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for  j!jn  6 

OR, 

A  DISQUISITION  ON  THE  USAGES  OF  SOCIETY. 


BY  WILLIAM   DEALTRY, 

(Cabinet  Maker,) 

Author  of  "The  History  of  Money;  its  Evils  and  Remedy.' 


"  Oh  mankind,  what  noble  creatures  you  ought  to  be  !     You  have  keys  to  all 
sciences,  arts,  and  mysteries,  but  one  !       You  can  not  frame  a  tolerable  law 
for  the  life  and  soul  of  you.     You  lay  down  rules  it  is  impossible  to  com- 
prehend, much  less  to  obey.     You  call  each   other  monsters   because 
you  can  not  conquer  the  impossibility!       You  invent  all  sorts  of 
vices,  under  pretense  of  making  laws  for  promoting  virtue.      You 
make  yourselves  as  uncomfortable  as  you  can  by  all  sorts  of 
galling,  vexatious  institutions." — BULWER'S  PAUL  CLIFFORD. 


CINCINNATI. 
WM.  DEALTRY,  Compositor;  R.  ALLISON  &  Co.,  Stereotypers. 


MDCCCLXIX. 


Entered,  according  to  an  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

WILLIAM  DEALTRY, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the   District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  Ohio. 


STEREOTYPED  AT  THE  FRANKLIN   TYPE  FOUNDRY,  CINCINNATI,  O. 


**' 

collection  of 
opinions  and  his- 
torical facts  are  affec- 
tionately dedicated  to  the 


and  those  Senators  who  "can  not  solve 
the  labor  question,"  and  also  to  those  who 
believe  the  hours  of  labor  can  be  short- 
ened by  industry,  frugality,  and  the 
use  of  machinery;  to  those  par- 
ents who  wish  their  chil- 
dren saved  from  un- 
necessary labor; 
to  those  American  youths 
who  wish  to  become  acquainted  with 
their  duties  as  citizens  of  the  GREAT  REPUBLIC. 
This  book  is  kindly  given  by  an  humble  laborer, 
with  the  earnest  hope  that  it  may  teach  them  this. 


M684356 


The  author  is  indebted  to  these  and  others  for  his  facts. 

Raynal's  History  of  the  East  and  West  Indies,  six  volumes. 

Encyclopedia  Britannica,  Edinburgh  edition  of  1780. 

Abbott's  French  Revolution. 

Mildmay's  Financial  History  of  England. 

Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations. 

Wade's  History  of  the  Middle  and  Working-classes. 

Giddings'  Exiles  of  Florida. 

Chambers'  Repository  and  Papers  for  the  People. 

Godwin's  Political  Justice  and  Inquirer. 

Rev.  Sidney  Smith's  Works. 

Knight's  Biographical  Dictionary,  six  volumes. 

Hume's  History  of  England. 

Randle's  Life  of  Jefferson,  three  volumes. 

Glimpses  of  the  Dark  Ages. 

Carey's  Social  Science,  three  volumes. 

Bulwer's  England  and  the  English,  two  volumes. 

Stanton's  Sketches  of  Reforms  and  Reformers. 

De  Toqueville's  Old  Regime  and  the  French  Revolution. 

Ramsey's  History  of  the  United  States  and  South  Carolina. 

Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States,  four  volumes. 

Disraeli's  Curiosities  of  Literature. 

Turner's  Sacred  History  of  the  World. 

Miller's  Schools  and  Schoolmasters. 

Lord  Kame's  History  of  Man,  four  volumes. 

Wesley's  Works,  thirty  volumes,  edition  of  1780. 

Kay's  Social  condition  of  England. 

Pridden's  History  and  present  condition  of  Australia. 

Hewitt's  Rural  Life  in  England. 

Abbott's  life  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

Winterbottom's,   Rochefoucalt's,  De  Warville's,  Weld's, 

Melish's,Volney's  and  Peto's  Travels  in  the  United  States. 


PREFACE. 


IEALTH  or  fame  is  not  the  author's  motive  for 
writing  this  book ;  it  is  to  encourage  the  working- 
man  to  persevere  in  his  efforts  to  shorten  the 
hours  of  labor  and  ameliorate  his  condition.  The  la- 
borer who  does  so  much  for  the  happiness  of  mankind 
— who  accomplishes  such  mighty  works — ought  to  have 
the  greatest  reward;  he  deserves  it. 

It  has  been  said,  if  the  laborers  were  educated,  none 
would  be  found  to  black  the  boots  or  curry  the  horses 
of  those  who  were  above  the  laborer.  Learning  will,  in 
time,  level  all  inequalities  of  life.  In  boyhood,  the  writ- 
er read  one  of  the  American  Tract  Society's  reprints, 
called  the  "Shepherd  of  Salisbury  Plain."  A  gentleman  on 
horseback  entered  into  a  conversation  about  the  weather. 
Said  he,  "  Do  you  live  where  I  see  yonder  smoke  ?"  Said 
the  shepherd,  "No,  I  have  not  much  firing,  and  some- 
times nothing  to  eat"  This  narration  moved  the  writer  to 
tears,  to  think  that  there  was  one  in  this  world  so  destitute. 
The  writer's  reflections  on  reading  this  were,  the  earth  was 
full  of  abundance,  and  it  needed  labor  to  bring  it  out. 
This  gentleman  had  a  habit  of  taking  a  walk  "  to  con- 


vi  PREFACE. 

template  the  goodness  of  God."  It  occurred  to  the  mind 
of  the  writer,  if  this  man  would  contemplate  the  goodness  of 
God  on  the  plow  handles,  it  would  be  better  for  mankind. 
It  is  idleness  on  the  part  of  others,  and  robbery  caused  by 
governments,  that  caused  the  shepherd's  misery.  This  em- 
ployment could  not  be  any  better.  This  shepherd  would 
not  drink  ale  with  the  gentleman.  He  was  very  industrious. 
His  earnings  were  a  shilling  a  day.  He  had  a  wife  and  six 
children ;  their  food  was  mostly  potatoes.  This  gentle- 
man paid  the  family  a  visit,  and  overheard  one  of  the  chil- 
dren say,  having  salt  to  their  food,  they  should  be  contented. 
Religion  is  not  given  us  to  make  us  contented  with  misery. 
This  gentleman  gave  to  the  family  blankets,  which,  perhaps, 
had  been  taken  from  a  starved  tenantry,  in  the  shape  of  rent 
or  profits  on  the  labor  of  others.  This  shepherd  was  made 
a  parson's  clerk.  On  Sunday  he  wore  a  white  robe  and  said 
"Amen"  to  the  Church  of  England's  prayers.  The  scanty 
pittance  he  got  for  this  from  the  congregation  only  lessened 
their  comforts  of  life. 

This  tract  led  to  this  reflection,  if  all  the  kings,  nobles, 
priests,  soldiers,  lawyers,  custom-house  officers,  and  many 
others  would  do  something  of  utility,  there  would  be  no 
poverty  in  the  world.  Hannah  More  wrote  books  to  cure 
French  infidelity.  They  got  the  name  of"  Village  Chips." 
France  was  so  full  of  philosophers,  priests,  nobles,  kings,  and 
courtiers,  that  the  common  people  had  not  a  sufficiency  of 
food;  this  led  to  their  destruction. 

Miss  More  by  her  village  chips  and  other  writings,  gain- 


PREFACE.  vii 

ed  $150,000.  This  amount  was  left  to  build  a  church  as 
a  monument.  If  Miss  More  had  not  been  a  Christian,  she 
would  have  left  this  money  at  interest,  it  would  have  given 
$9,000;  this  sum  would  have  kept  in  idleness  960  persons, 
or  1 20  families  on  potatoes.  This  interest  at  the  time  of 
this  lady's  death,  [1833]  would  keep  in  idleness  thirty  me- 
chanics' families  in  comfort  and  happiness. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  one  to  resolve  to  work  at  useful, 
laborious  toil.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  one  who  labors  thus 
to  keep  himself  only.  The  misery  of  the  world  arises  from 
one  man's  keeping  another  doing  nothing,  and  whose  claim 
for  support  is  not  founded  on  nature.  That  rich  men  should 
leave  their  families  to  be  clothed  and  fed,  by  the  industri- 
ous, by  interest,  life  insurance  or  otherwise,  is  absurd,  and 
a  more  enlightened  age  will  sweep  them  away. 

The  apology  for  intruding  this  book  upon  the  laborers' 
notice,  is  that  the  writer  has  had  access  to  large,  and  costly 
libraries,  and  his  reading  has  been  of  that  nature,  so  that  he 
may  set  his  own  class  to  reasoning  correctly  on  political 
subjects.  The  facts  in  this  book  have  been  acquired  when 
the  day's  labor  was  done,  most  of  them  during  the  last  two- 
years.  This  book  has  its  literary  faults.  The  writer  quit 
school  at  ten  years  of  age. 

The  writer  can  get  no  one  to  print  this  book.  He  has 
purchased  type  and  sets  them  up.  He  is  a  cabinet-maker, 
not  a  printer ;  and  this  will  account  for  typographical  faults. 

It  is  a  pleasing  thought  this  book  can  be  printed  without 
asking  permission.  Greater  changes  are  to  be  made  in 


viii  PREFACE. 

men's  condition.  The  thunders  of  the  Vatican  have  tried 
to  strike  out  of  the  hands  of  men,  the  writings  of  WicklifF, 
Huss,  and  Luther.  At  Rome  a  body  of  literary  despots 
make  out  a  catalogue  of  books,  that  are  forbidden  to  be  read. 
In  Spain  a  book  goes  through  half  a  dozen  courts  before  it 
is  published.  Queen  Elizabeth  punished  an  author  for  an 
offending  book.  King  James  compelled  books  to  be  exam- 
ined "and  purged  of  offensive  matter."  Milton's  Paradise 
Lost  was  altered,  after  a  few  years  it  was  printed  as  written. 
Sir  Mathew  Hale  did  not  want  his  books  printed  after  his 
death,  he  was  afraid  the  "  Licensers  of  the  Press "  might 
change  them. 

This  book  will  show  what  others  have  suffered  for  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  those  who  toil.  Sir  Thomas 
More  lost  his  head  on  the  block ;  his  Utopia  would  offend 
many.  Fenelon  was  banished  from  the  French  court. 
In  prison  Voltaire  wrote  his  "  Henriade  "  and  "  Toleration;" 
Cobbett  his  "Paper  against  Gold;"  and  Montgomery  some 
of  his  poems.  Brissot  De  Warville,  after  his  visit  to  this 
country,  with  thirteen  others  suffered  on  the  guillotine.  By- 
ron only  went  three  times  to  the  House  of  Lords ;  he  told 
them  they  were  robbers  of  the  people.  Bulwer  says  the 
writings  of  the  social  philosophers  of  last  century  are  not 
generally  known.  If  this  collection  of  opinions  and  histor- 
ical facts  shall  teach  the  young,  to  think,  and  save  them 
from  unpaid  toil ;  the  writer's  labor  has  not  been  in  vain. 

W.  DEALTRY. 

CIN.  UNION  BLOCK.  3rd  ST. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  1. 

REFORMS    ARE    NECESSARY. 

lJMAN  Society  is  Full  of  Misery — There  is  a  Complete  Remedy — The 
Hours  of  Toil  can  be  Shortened — Opinions  of  Good  Men I 

CHAPTER  II. 

ANCIENT    AND    MODERN    SLAVERY. 

LAVERY  in  Greece  and  Rome — In  Northern  Africa — In  America — 
Slavery  is  Necessary  to  Improve  the  Condition  of  Men — Slavery  not 
Neecessary  when  Nations  are  Improved 25 

CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORY    OF    THE    LABORING    CLASSES. 

OCTET  Y  after  the  Conquest— Traffic  in  Slaves— Influence  of  Christian- 
ity— Increase  of  Towns  and  Manufactures — Corporate  Immunities — 
Absurd  Legislation-— Occupations  and  Wages  of  the  People 49 

CHAPTER  IV. 

GOVERNMENTS    AND    FEUDALISM. 

ATRIARCHAL   Government — The  Origin  of  Monarchies — Their 
Jf    Corruptions  and  Changes — William   the  Norman — His  advent  into 
England — Feudalism — Its  Origin  and  Necessity  to  Improve  Men 73 


CONTENTS. 
CHAPTER  V. 

PARLIAMENTS    AND    COMMONS. 

p  ARLIAMENTS  a  Result  of  Conquest — The  disputes  of  Kings  and 
Nobles  a  cause  of  Parliaments — Origin  of  the  House  of  Commons — 
An  Assembly  of  Men  to  save  Themselves  from  being  Plundered 97 

CHAPTER  VI. 

CITIES    AND    TOWNS. 

EUDALISM  the  Cause  of  the  Growth  of  Cities — A  Place  for  Es- 
caping Slaves — Cities  are  necessary  to  Improve  Mankind — Hanseatic 
Towns — North  American  Review  on  Cities — Suffering  in  Cities izi 

CHAPTER  VII. 

COMMERCE    AND    TRADE. 

OMMERCE,  its  origin — Mankind  needed  Commerce  to  Improve 
3j  their  Condition — Its  Evils  and  Remedy — Franklin's  Opinions   of 

Commerce — Rev.  Sidney  Smith's  Opinions  on  Commerce 145 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

GOLD,    SILVER,    AND    PAPER    MONEY. 

^ 
/r  ONEY  had  its  Origin  in  the  Love  of  Ornament — A  Means  of  keep- 

jyL    ing  the  People  Poor — What  Money  costs  Society — The  Causes  of 

Metal  Money — The  History  of  Paper  Money 169 

CHAPTER  IX. 

A    CENTURY    OF    INVENTIONS. 

'ANT  a  Motive  for  Invention — Universal  Riches  will  Prevent  In- 
*'      vention — Arkwright's  Invention  and  Poverty — Watts'  Improve- 
ment on  the  Steam  Engine — Morse's  Telegraph 193 


CONTENTS.  xi 

CHAPTER  X. 

MERCHANTS    AND    LAWYERS. 

j 

ERCHANTS  are  the  Founders  of  Cities — A  Cause  of  the  Overthrow 
of  Slavery — Merchants  are  too  Numerous — The  Causes  why  Law- 
yers Exist — They  are  too  numerous — An  injury  to  Society 217 

CHAPTER  XI. 

PHYSICIANS    AND    MINISTERS. 

>HN  WESLEY'S  Remedies  for  Sickness— Opinions  of  the  Demo- 
jvJ    cratic  Review — Jefferson — Priessnitz — Bulwer — Havelock— Volney— 

The  Early  Christians — St.  Chrysostom — Tertullian — The  Moravians.241 

CHAPTER  XII. 

FARMERS    AND    MECHANICS. 

fHE  Farmer's  Burdens  are  too  Heavy — It  is  his  duty  to  mak«  them 
Lighter — How  to  Educate  his  Children — To  Fertilize  the  Soil — How 
the  Mechanic  may  Shorten  his  Labor — How  to  Obtain  a  Home 265 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    AMERICAN    GOVERNMENT. 

fHE  American  Government  has  not  Ameliorated  the  Condition  of  the 
Working  People — It  Should  be  Changed — It  Benefits  the  Rich,  not 
the  Poor — Opinions  of  Brissot  de  Warville — Marquis  de  Chastellux...289 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

fTS  Causes,  Cruelties,  and  Benefits — A  Contest  between  Nobles  and 
People — The  Number  of  its  Victims — The  Edict  of  Nantes — The 
Profligacy  of  the  Kings  of  France — Death  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth...^  13 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

STATESMEN    AND    POLITICAL    ECONOMISTS. 

f  KETCHES  of  Washington — Livingston — Morris — Hamilton — Sedg- 
wick — Ames — Wollcott — Burr — Adams — Jefferson —  Opinions  of 
the  Economists — Potter — More — Smith — Malthus — Say — Paley 337 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

SOCIAL    AND    MORAL    INNOVATORS. 

§  PINIONS  of  Volney — Franklin — Fenelon — Carey— Fourier— Har- 
riet Martineau — Joseph  Kay — Dr.  Price — Jacques  Turgot — Fortes- 
que — William  Godwin — John  Wesley 361 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

REASONS    FOR    REFORMS. 

.  PALEY  on  Society — A  Presidential  Candidate's  Home — Cost  of 
Intemperance — The  Fool's  Pence — Theory  of  Governments — What 
we  Pay  for  Being  Governed — John  Adams  on  the  Constitutions. ...38 5 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

t  WASHINGTON  letter — The  Pacific  Railroad  a  Means  of  acquir- 
L  ing  Territory  without  War — How  the  King  of  Prussia  obtained  Rev- 
enue from  a  Canal — General  Dearborn's  Testimony  on  Merchants..4O9 

NOTE. 

> 
AGE  twenty-four,  line  nineteen,  and  page  two-hundred  and  ninety,  line 

two,  the  writer  quotes  from  memory.     The  proper  books  can  not  at  this 
time  be  obtained. 


THE    LABORER, 


CHAPTER  I. 

REFORMS    ARE    NECESSARY. 

HUMAN  SOCIETY  is  FULL  OF  MISERY — THERE  is  A  COMPLETE  REMEDY — THI 
HOURS  OF  TOIL  CAN  BE  SHORTENED—OPINIONS  OF  GOOD  MEN. 

"  The  history  of  the  past  is  to  enlighten  men."--SwiFT. 

|HE  minds  of  the  good  and  benevolent  are  continu- 
ally pained  by  the  sight  of  human  sorrow,  caused 
by  want.  This  comes  from  man's  ignorance ; 
from  one  man  oppressing  another,  and  blinding  his  reason. 
The  Creator  of  the  Universe  has  done  his  part  well ;  noth- 
ing is  lacking  to  complete  man's  happiness.  If  a  poor 
man  spends  his  time  sculpturing  a  stone,  and  calls  it  Apollo 
or  Diana,  he  will  want  bread.  If  the  man  parts  with  his 
statue,  some  one  else  suffers  want.  The  peasant  of  Ire- 
land, for  the  use  of  the  soil,  which  ought  to  be  his  own,  is 
compelled  to  give  three-fourths  of  his  food  to  another.  If 
the  landlord  gives  this  food  to  painters  and  sculptors,  their 


2  THE    LABORER; 

concentrated  labor  is  at  the  expense  of  the  peasant's  com- 
forts. How  abject  and  mean  are  the  inhabitants  of  Bava- 
ria. Its  ruler  is  guilty  of  the  madness  of  impoverishing 
his  subjects.  He  has  built  two  large  and  costly  temples-,  of 
the  finest  style  of  architecture.  These  temples  are  filled 
with  paintings  and  statuary.  The  Bavarians  are  poor;  if 
the  labor  on  these  temples,  statues,  and  paintings  had  been 
put  on  the  homes  of  the  Bavarians,  they  would  be  happy. 
"The  introduction  of  the  fine  arts  into  America  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  national  calamity."* 

Men  work  on  luxuries,  and  want  necessaries.  Men  work 
on  stone  carvings  for  a  mansion  front,  and  go  to  a  home 
destitute  of  comfort,  or  even  ornament. f  Nature  designed 
that  men  should  work  more  for  themselves  and  less  for 
others.  The  poverty  of  many  of  the  Americans  arises  from 
keeping  many  doing  nothing.  Their  Legislators,  in  trying  to 
put  down  evil,  do  a  great  deal  of  wrong ;  while  doing  it  they 
consume  large  quantites  of  labor. 

If  the  laborers  lived  in  the  palaces  they  build  and  adorn, 
it  would  be  more  rational.  History  is  silent  how  those  who 
built  the  Pyramids  lived;  their  labor  made  them  wretched: 
much  of  modern  labor  does  the  same.  We  need  earnest- 
hearted  men  to  turn  labor  into  other  channels.  It  is  the 
duty  of  the  good  to  do  something  for  those  who  suffer. 
These  cases  call  for  a  reform. 

The  "Methodist  Book  Concern"  has  a  book  called 
"Aunt  Effie."  Her  husband  was  killed  while  making  a  fine 
cornice ;  the  scaffold  fell.  Her  nice  home  passed  away. 
At  No.  6  Court  street  she  put  out  this  sign  :  "Washing  done 

*  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE'S    Travels  in  North  America,  in  1787. 

•j-  The  writer  knows  a  good,  temperate,  marble  cutter,  who  sleeps  in  an  al- 
ley. Others  work  on  tombstones  worth  forty  thousand  dollars,  they  have  no 
homes.  These  men  do  themselves  and  society  an  injustice.  It  is  a  wrong. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  3 

here :"  none  came  to  give  her  work,  and  she  was  reduced 
to  her  last  crust.  After  trying  to  beg  she  returned  to  her 
home — to  die  !  Her  thoughts  were  that  she  would  fill  a  pau- 
per's grave.  She  was  thirty-six  hours  without  food.  Some 
benevolent  ladies,  at  last,  found  her  out,  when  ready  to  faint 
with  hunger. 

Near  Louisville  two  women  lived  in  a  hollow  tree ;  their 
bed  was  corn  shucks,  which  they  sold  in  the  market ;  they 
did  washing.  They  were  found  by  a  hunter,  who  saw 
their  tracks  in  the  snow.  The  Cincinnati  Commercial  tells 
us  of  Stewart,  the  New  York  merchant,  living  in  a  man- 
sion worth  $2,000,000,  and  of  news  boys  sleeping  in  boxes 
and  barrels.  It  also  tells  us  of  a  steam  plow,  that  plow- 
ed in  England  four  hundred  acres  of  land.  Another  para- 
graph, by  way  of  contrast,  tells  us  of  a  dozen  persons  found 
frozen  in  the  streets  of  London ;  besides  those  who  were  fro- 
zen in  their  dens. 

Monarchy  and  Republicanism  are  the  same.  They  both 
divide  into  two  classes ;  one  to  create  labor,  the  other  to 
destroy ;  into  rich  idlers  and  poor  workers,  one  part  possess- 
ing all,  the  other  nothing.  A  life  of  toil  and  labor  is  bind- 
ing on  us  all ;  from  it  there  is  no  escape.  If  a  man  escapes 
toil,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  some  one  else.  When  a  man 
will  not  work,  he  does  an  injustice  to  those  who  will  work. 
It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  work  to  throw  off  this  burden. 

There  have  in  every  age  and  clime  of  the  world,  appear- 
ed men  who  could  see  clearly  into  the  social  ills  of  life. 
The  ancient  philosophers,  as  soon  as  symbolical  writing 
had  passed  away,  and  letters  were  used,  then  taught  that 
agriculture  and  pastoral  pursuits,  were  for  the  happiness  of 
men.  Among  the  greatest  who  have  tried  to  banish  po- 
verty, is  Jesus.  He  would  not  allow  his  followers  to  possess 
riches.  His  command  was  sell  all  that  thou  hast,  and  give 


4  THE  LABORER; 

it  to  the  poor.  Excessive  riches  are  made  by  speculation. 
Many  will  buy  a  piece  of  ground,  suitable  for  a  home,  for 
$100  and  sell  it  for  $200.  Does  not  this  seller  do  an  injus- 
tice to  the  buyer?  If  the  seller  makes  many  such  sales, 
he  lives  without  laboring.  He  is  guilty  of  a  breach  of  this 
command,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet  or  desire  other  men's 
goods."  Jesus  saw  that  riches  gave  birth  to  idleness,  and 
that  they  impoverished  the  industrious  and  increased  their 
toils.  Even  Paul  said  "If  any  man  will  not  work  neither 
shall  he  eat."  He  was  a  true  reformer,  and  a  rule  for  us 
all.  For  three  centuries  the  early  Christians  despised 
riches  and  lived  together  doing  good. 

St.  Basil,  who  died  A.  P.  378,  perceiving  that  many 
Christians  were  in  trouble  from  the  wars,  advised  them  to 
unite  in  colleges.  He  taught  them  that  the  Scriptural 
doctrines  led  to  the  reformation  of  life,  and  men  had  some- 
thing to  practice.  St.  Basil  had  seen  religious  societies  in 
Egypt.  He  built  a  house  large  enough  for  his  friends, 
to  share  his  retirement.  The  place  had  near  it  a  river, 
that  rolled  over  a  rock,  and  it  was  full  of  fish,  the  woods 
contained  deer  and  wild  goats.  They  were  constantly 
employed  at  such  labors,  as  gave  them  occupation  without 
anxiety.  Those  arts  were  preferred  which  combined  cheap- 
ness and  simplicity,  not  requiring  costly  materials,  or  min- 
istering to  vanity.  Their  pursuits  were  building,  weaving, 
and  shoe  making.  •  Others  attended  the  flocks  and  soil. 
Their  house  was  a  school  for  orphans,  whom  they  clothed 
and  fed.  Pious  people  have  not  always  lived  this  natural 
life, — a  life  of  labor  and  self  denial. 

The  followers  of  John  Huss  became  Moravians,  Tun- 
kers,  and  Mennonists.  Count  Zinzendorf  helped  the  Mo- 
ravians to  lands,  which  they  worked  with  ingenuity,  indus- 
try, and  economy.  The  Tunkers  and  Mennonists  were 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  5 

sects  of  Christians,  who  settled  in  Pennsylvania  last  cen- 
tury, having  sprung  from  the  Hussites;  their  principles 
were  not  to  go  to  law,  fight,  or  take  interest  for  the  loan 
of  their  money.  They  subsisted  by  attending  lands,  flour, 
oil,  and  paper  mills,  and  other  useful  pursuits. 

John  Wesley  paid  a  visit  to  Hernhutt,  and  Count  Zin- 
zendorf  set  him  to  work  in  his  garden.*  He  did  not  like 
this,  though  he  inculcated  a  life  of  plainness  to  his  follow- 
ers, and  forbid  ornaments  in  dress,  houses,  or  equipages. 
His  mind  saw  that  luxury  deprived  some  of  the  comforts  of 
life.  It  may  not  appear  very  clear  to  some,  as  it  does  to 
Christians,  how  luxury  is  productive  of  evil ;  take  this  ex- 
ample :  three  girls  in  England  each  worked  sixteen  weeks 
on  a  scarf,  for  Queen  Victoria ;  it  was  flowers  worked  on 
thin  cloth  with  a  needle.  These  girls  ought  to  have  been 
making  flannels  and  stockings  for  themselves.  There  is 
no  difficulty  in  proving,  that  those  who  do  this  work  are 
poor.  The  pay  of  these  girls  was  taken  from  others,  by 
taxation.  Nature  designed  that  queens  and  ladies  should 
make  their  own  scarfs. 

Archbishop  Fenelon,  in  his  Telemachus,  plainly  shews 
the  causes  of  human  misery,  and  the  virtues  of  useful  in- 
dustry. Sir  Thomas  More,  in  his  Utopia,  where  he  de- 
scribes the  happy  islanders,  gives  us  plain,  good  advice,  and 
how  useful  labors  make  men  happy.  The  satires  of  these 
men  on  human  society  are  very  keen. 

Lord  Bolingbroke,  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne,  said,  if 
every  man  would  work  one  year,  it  would  maintain  him 
twenty  years.  Franklin  tells  us  "  If  every  one  would  labor 
four  hours  a  day,  at  something  useful,  poverty  and  want 
would  be  unknown."  Robert  Owen  spun  the  first  bale  of 

*  Chambers'  Miscellany — The  Moravians. 


6  THE    LABORER; 

Sea  Island  cotton  that  was  sent  to  England,  into  thread 
of  very  fine,  even,  and  smooth  texture.  His  earnings  at 
nineteen  were  three  thousand  dollars  a  year.  At  twenty 
seven  he  purchased  a  factory  worth  $400,000.  He  saw  a 
boy  of  sixteen  years  in  chains,  to  be  sent  to  a  penal  colony 
for  his  faults.  This  scene  led  Owen  to  reflect  that,  if 
other  circumstances  had  been  thrown  around  this  boy,  he 
would  have  been  a  better  member  of  society.  It  led  him 
to  devote  his  wealth  to  improve  his  fellow-men.  His 
workmen  rented  his  cottages  at  the  lowest  price.  He  got 
for  them  the  necessaries  of  life  at  first  cost;  and  distributed 
them  for  the  same.  He  introduced  infant  schools  among 
the  working  people. 

Robert  Dale  Owen  says,  in  his  writings:  "My  father 
had  access  to  documents  that  others  had  not.  His  exten- 
sive experience  as  a  manufacturer  convinced  him  that  Eng- 
land's labor-saving  machinery,  was  equal  to  400,000,000 
of  working  men.  Nineteen-twentieths  of  this  power  has 
been  created  in  the  last  century.  In  the  making  of  cotton 
goods,  3,000,000  of  persons  do  the  labor  of  36,000,000. 
The  labor-saving  machinery  of  Great  Britain,  is  the  same 
as  if  every  workman  had  forty  slaves  working  for  him,  from 
morn  to  night  without  food  or  clothing.  One-fortieth  part 
of  the  present  wealth  of  England,  formerly  afforded  her  pop- 
ulation subsistence  and  comfort.  A  great  number  of  these 
laborers,  have  not  at  this  moment  sufficient  to  subsist  on  in 
comfort.  Great  Britain  has  learned  to  produce  wealth, 
and  she  does  produce  it  most  abundantly ;  but  she  has  not 
learned  to  distribute  it,  to  help  her  present  distress.  Now 
it  is  self-evident  that  if  every  person  produced  for  himself 
every  article  of  wealth  that  he  required,  no  possible  injus- 
tice could  happen  in  its  distribution;  for  each  producer 
would  retain  and  consume  his  own  produce.  It  is  also 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  7 

evident  that  if  such  a  state  of  things  could  exist,  labor-sav- 
ing machinery  must  necessarily  increase  man's  comforts, 
or  diminish  the  hours  of  labor ;  for  instance,  if  a  man's  pow- 
ers of  production  increased  forty-fold,  and  he  was  still  con- 
tent with  the  same  quantity  of  wealth  that  satisfied  his  wants 
before  the  increase,  he  would  only  have  to  labor  eighteen 
minutes  a  day  instead  of  twelve  hours,  or  he  ought  to  have 
forty  times  as  much  wealth.  *' 

Lord  Brougham  has,  in  his  writings  on  the  nature  of  la- 
bor-saving machinery,  declared :  u  That  after  the  most 
careful  investigation  of  the  subject  in  England,  with  its 
present  advantages  in  labor-saving  machinery,  but  twenty 
minutes  daily  toil,  by  each  individual  would  be  required  to 
furnish  all  with  abundance. " 

Richard  Cobden,  in  his  political  writings,  says:  "The 
effects  of  labor-saving  machinery  must  ultimately  reduce  the 
hours  of  labor,  as  it  already  has  mitigated  its  severity. 
The  work  of  day  will  be  crowded  into  a  smaller  space,  so 
soon  as  our  good  people  can  learn  that  gold  is  not  the 
highest  good,  and  that  man  is  something  better  than  a  beast 
of  burden.  We  shall  throw  off  the  shackles  which  now 
make  our  callings  our  masters,  and  which  reduce  our  life 
to  one  long  unmitigated  bondage  to  work.  There  is  abun- 
dant evidence  of  approaching  emancipation  to  the  tillers  of 
the  soil,  the  artisan  and  operative." 

If  human  labor  is  so  productive,  why  are  the  feelings  of 
good  men  pained,  "with  every  day's  report,  of  wrongs  and 
outrages."  These  have  appeared.  "William  Feidler,  who 
killed  himself  in  St.  Louis,  on  account  of  poverty,  and  lack 
of  employment,  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  merchant  in 
Leipsic,  Saxony."*  "Last  December,  a  mother  and  two 

*  Cincinnati  Com.  of  Jan.  9th,  1868. 


8  THE   LABORER; 

children  perished  with  severe  cold."*  The  same  night,  in 
Brooklyn,  John  Durant  died  with  cold  and  hunger.  On 
the  first  of  Jan.  1866,  a  man  died  with  hunger  in  Chicago, 
where  there  is  food  enough  to  support  a  province,  and  men 
often  get  smothered  in  wheat.  Many  will  say  intemper- 
ance causes  much  of  this ;  it  is  not  the  cause  of  all  the 
misery,  which  may  be  inferred  from  these  two  cases.  A 
girl,  of  the  name  of  Cooley,  came  to  Covington  from  the 
country  to  work;  and  failed  to  get  it.  She  was  soon  with- 
out money  to  get  a  night's  lodging.  After  wandering  about 
in  a  state  of  mind  bordering  on  to  distraction,  the  poor  girl 
went  on  the  Main  Street  ferry  boat,  and  asked  if  the  water 
was  deep  enough  to  drown.  Upon  being  answered  that  it 
was,  and  before  any  one  was  aware,  she  jumped  over  board. 
The  swift  current  swept  her  down  the  stream.  She  was 
saved  and  cared  for.f  Mary  Wheeler  was  found  sleeping 
out  of  doors.  She  was  a  woman  of  about  fifty  years,  poor- 
ly clothed,  but  respectable  in  appearance,  with  a  counten- 
ance indicative  of  honesty,  and  pinched  with  want.  She 
said  she  had  no  home,  no  place  to  sleep,  nothing  to  eat. 
She  was  alone  in  the  world  and  friendless.  A  paralytic 
stroke  had  deprived  her  of  the  use  of  her  right  arm.  The 
husband  of  this  woman,  twenty-five  years  ago,  was  one  of 
the  wealthiest  in  Chicago.  He  was  a  sober  and  industrious 
builder,  and  the  father  of  an  interesting  family,  and  the 
owner  of  ten  acres  of  land,  on  the  north  side  of  Kenzie 
Street. 

The  husband  was  drowned,  the  widow  married  again. 
In  a  few  years  she  was  deserted  and  robbed  of  her  posses- 
sions. Her  family  died,  except  a  daughter,  who  married 
unfortunately,  and  cannot  give  her  mother  a  home.  The 

^Cincinnati  Times,  Dec.  1865.       f  Cincinnati  Times  of  July,    1866. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  9 

poor,  friendless,  homeless  and  heart-broken  woman  is  left  to 
depend  on  public  charity. — TIMES." 

At  the  present  time  [winter  of  1868]  50,000  mechanics 
are  out  of  employment  in  the  city  of  New  York.  If  these 
persons  go  to  work  at  toy-making,  street-cleaning,  and  sew- 
er-building their  wants  are  relieved  at  some  others'  ex- 
pense. Franklin  says : "  If  the  women  will  go  behind  the 
counter,  and  the  men  go  to  the  workshop  and  the  plow, 
the  hardness  of  the  times  will  cease." 

Sir  Morton  Peto,  in  his  Resources  of  America,  says: 
"The  annual  value  of  the  products  of  the  farmers  and  me- 
chanics are  §2,000,000,000.  And  when  the  great  Pacific 
Railroad  is  completed,  the  amount  of  gold  added  to  the 
country  will  be  yearly  $150,000,000."  If  this  amount  is 
divided  into  the  products  of  labor  the  product  will  be  thir- 
teen. These  gold  seekers  destroy  a  thirteenth  of  the  hats, 
shoes,  clothes,  and  houses  that  are  created.  The  man  who 
earns  a  $1,000  in  a  year  contributes  $75  to  the  support  of 
the  gold  seekers.  The  meaning  of  this  language  is  this,  the 
labor  that  is  spent  seeking  for  gold,  would,  in  ten  years'  give 
every  ten  persons  a  home  worth  $500.  We  should  think 
it  a  great  hardship  if  a  conqueror  was  to  come  and  carry 
away  annually  one-thirteenth  of  our  labor.  The  gold  find- 
ers do  this.  We  can  not  see  the  injury  they  do  us. 

If  the  laborer  would  relieve  himself  of  care  and  anxiety, 
he  must  believe  and  act  in  a  different  manner  from  what 
he  does.  Human  society  may  be  likened  to  a  column,  the 
base  is  the  farmers  and  mechanics,  who  have  resting  on 
them  lawyers,  doctors,  soldiers,  custom-house  officers, 
merchants,  bankers,  landlords,  and  those  who  govern  us. 
These  get  two-thirds  of  the  laborer's  toil.  Many  of  these 
can  be  dispensed  with.  These  classes  have  arisen  through 
the  corruptions  of  ages,  and  were  necessary  to  eat  up  the 


io  THE    LABORER; 

subsistence  of  the  people — to  make  them  poor.  This  pov- 
erty quickens  the  inventions  of  men.  It  is  necessary.  It 
was  poverty  that  made  Watt  improve  the  steam-engine 
and  Arkwright  invent  spinning  machinery.  Mankind,  some 
time  or  other,  will  have  a  sufficiency  of  machinery  and 
these  unproductive  classes  will  be  swept  away. 

Says  Bishop  Clark:  "In  how  many  homes  does  poverty, 
care-consuming,  pinching  poverty — make  its  permanent 
abode !  Daily  toil  scarcely  suffices  to  provide  for  daily 
wants.  The  humblest  and  coarsest  fare  is  all  that  is  craved, 
and  fhat,  alas  !  is  often  craved  in  vain.  How  often  does  the 
very  image  of  poverty,  thinly  clad,  shivering  in  the  winter's 
cold,  with  hasty  step  and  averted  eye,  glide  past  us  upon  all 
our  streets !  Go  to  the  desolate,  cheerless  home  of  want ; 
mark  its  nakedness  of  all  that  is  essential  to  home  comfort ; 
think  how  hard  these  parents  toil,  and  how  little  they  earn ; 
how  much  these  children  need,  and  how  little  they  have. 
And  as  you  stand  there,  amid  that  scene  of  poverty  and 
want,  as  you  feel  the  pressure  of  their  necessities,  and  your 
heart  yearns  towards  them,  ask  thyself  who  hath  made  us 
to  differ." 

How  painful  is  this  description  of  sorrow.  Many  of 
these  were  once  in  affluence;  childhood  to  them  was  full  of 
toys,  sunshine  and  flowers ;  they  entered  the  learned  profes- 
sions and  became  briefless  lawyers,  doctors  without  patients, 
and  ministers  with  thread-bare  coats.  Many  of  these  did 
not  think  with  Douglas  Jerrold,  that  "The  dignity  of 
human  life  consisted  in  knowing  how  to  handle  a  spade, 
and  if  we  cultivate  mother  earth  it  will  never  cheat  us,  and 
we  need  not  tell  thumping  lies,  as  they  do  on  'Change.*' 

A  young  man  in  Indiana,  said :  He  had  cultivated  six- 
ty acres  of  corn,  with  machinery,  and  that  he  had  2,700  bu- 
shels of  corn.  One  bushel  of  corn  fattens  twelve  pounds 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  n 

% 

of  pork.  This  farmer  raised  also  500  bushels  of  wheat. 
This  quantity  lasts  eighty  years,  allowing  soldiers'  rations. 
One  bushel  of  wheat  makes  fifty  pounds  of  flour.  A  pound 
of  flour  is  a  soldier's  daily  ration,  with  three-fourths  of  a 
pound  of  pork.  The  farmer  had  six  barrels  of  molasses. 
This  is  the  calculation: 

60  acresX45  bu.  =2,700  bu.  of  corn. 
2,700  bu.X12  Ibs.  =32,  400  Ibs.  of  pork. 
500  bu.  of  wheatXS°  Ibs.—  25,000  Ibs.  of  flour. 
32,400  lbs.-j-273  lbs.=H9  years,  time  to  consume  the  pork. 
25,000  Ibs.  of  flour-^365  days=6o  years,  time  to  consume  the  flotlT. 
60-7-2=89  years,  the  average  time  to  consume  this  food. 


This  is  a  paper  demonstration  and  not  very  easily  proved. 
This  one  is  :  A  city  laborer  earns  $500  in  a  year,  working 
ten  hours  a  day  ;  he  spends  out  of  this  sum  $100  for  tobac- 
co, drinks  and  trifles  ;  and  $100  for  house  rent.  By  cutting 
off  the  trifles,  in  five  years,  this  laborer  will  have  saved  suf- 
ficient for  a  country  home,  with  a  large  garden.  This  la- 
borer can  now  live  with  six  hours  labor  in  a  day.  Much 
of  the  laborer's  earnings  go  to  the  market  for  vegetables, 
bacon,  butter,  eggs,  and  fruit.  A  country  home  cuts  off 
all  this  expense.  This  life  will  reduce  the  hours  of  toil  to 
four.  In  the  days  of  Franklin  there  was  a  large  commons, 
for  the  use  of  all  ;  where  cattle  and  hogs  could  graze.  De 
Warville  tells  us  in  1787  :  "The  people  on  the  banks  of  the 
Ohio  did  not  labor  more  than  two  hours  in  a  day."  The 
people  were  not  divided  into  hair-dressers,  boot-blacks,  ci- 
gar-makers, and  milliners.  There  were  no  merchants  to 
take  away  the  food,  and  bring  baok  silks  and  satins,  silver 
and  gold.  The  clothing  of  this  period  was  home-spun  and 
durable,  not  shoddy,  which  is  old,  filthy,  woollen  rags, 
ground  into  dust,  one-third  of  which  is  mixed  with  long 
wool.  This  cloth  is  soon  worn  out. 


12  THE  LABORER; 

0 

There  is  nothing  that  makes  the  laborer  so  sick  at  heart, 
as  being  repulsed  when  begging  work;  and  living  in  fear  of 
being  turned  away  for  one  who  can  work  faster.  There 
is  misery  among  the  higher  classes.  Many  a  father  has 
spent  his  money,  to  put  his  son  among  the  learned,  or  trad- 
ing classes  and  failed.  It  often  happens  that  he  who  was 
raised  in  affluence,  descends  to  the  lowest  walks  of  human 
life ;  to  be  the  drudge  of  others ;  to  spend  a  life  in  wretch- 
edness, penury,  and  want.  There  is  a  remedy. 

Men  are  misled  by  writers  on  Political  Science.  This 
is  an  extract  from  M.  Say,  a  Frenchman,  whose  book 
was  used  in  American  colleges  for  many  years :  "  What 
is  necessary  subsistence,  depends,  therefore,  partly  on  the 
habits  of  the  nation,  to  which  the  laborer  belongs.  In  pro- 
portion to  the  value  he  consumes  his  wages  may  be  small, 
and  the  product  of  his  labor  cheap.  If  his  condition  be 
improved,  and  his  wages  raised,  either  his  product  becomes 
dearer  to  the  consumer,  or  the  share  of  his  fellow-produc- 
ers is  diminished.  The  disadvantages  of  their  position  are 
an  effectual  barrier  against  any  great  extension  of  the  con- 
sumption of  the  laboring  classes.  Humanity,  indeed,  would 
rejoice  to  see  them  and  their  families  dressed  in  warm  clothing 
suitable  to  the  climate  and  season ;  with  houses  roomy,  warm, 
airy,  in  healthy  situations,  and  fed  with  wholesome  and  plenti- 
ful diet,  with  an  occasional  delicacy .  But  there  are  few 
countries  where  wants,  apparently  so  moderate,  are  not  consi- 
dered beyond  the  limits  of  strict  necessity,  and  therefore 
not  to  be  gratified  by  the  customary  wages  of  the  working 
classes." 

The  books  of  Wayland  and    Say  have  been  the    text* 
books   of  the  American  Colleges  for  nearly  half  a  century, 
and  they  have  never  given  the  laborer  a  champion.     These 
books  have  not  prevented  want  which  is  constantly  growing 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  13 

in  our  large  cities.  Political  Economists  do  not  favor  the 
humble  classes ;  Mills  and  Carey  are  exceptions.  From 
their  teachings,  and  the  practices  of  governments,  come 
many  of  the  inequalities  of  life.  Their  teachings  are  of 
the  same  nature  as  Dame  Lobkins*  advice  to  Paul  Clifford, 
a  stealer  in  one  of  Bulwer's  novels;  which  reads  thus: 

"  Mind  thy  kittychism,  child,  and  reverence  old  age. 
Never  steal,  'specially  when  any  body  be  in  the  way. 
Never  go  snacks  with  them  as  be  older  than  you, — 'causey 
why  ?  The  older  a  cove  be,  the  more  he  cares  for  hisself, 
and  less  for  his  partner.  Read  your  Bible,  and  talk  like  a 
pious  'un.  People  goes  more  by  your  words,  than  your 
actions.  If  you  wants  what  is  not  your  own,  try  and  do 
without  it ;  and,  if  you  can't  do  without  it,  take  it  by  in- 
sinivation,  not  bluster.  'Cause  they  as  only  swindles,  does 
more  and  risks  less  than  those  who  rob  outright .  Now  go 
and  play  ;  but  here,  take  some  money  in  your  pocket,  and 
don't  play  for  nothing ;  it's  loss  of  time  ;  but  mind,  always 
play  with  them  as  be  less  than  yourself,  and  then,  if  they 
says  you  go  for  to  cheat,  you  go  for  to  beat  'em." 

In  the  city  of  New  York,  there,  is  one  person  worth 
$60,000,000.  A  laborer  would  have  to  toil  120,000  years 
to  get  this  amount,  at  the  rate  of  $500  a  year.  A  person  to 
count  this  at  the  rate  of  $20,000  a  day  will  be  six  years 
doing  it.  The  annual  income  of  this  person  is  $6,000,000. 
A  sum  equal  to  the  average  yearly  earnings  of  10,000  me- 
chanics. This  yearly  income  will  purchase  5,000,000  of 
acres  of  wild  lands.  This  will  make  a  province  eighty 
miles  square;  and  capable  of  supporting  1,500,000  persons, 
whose  offspring  can  support  twenty  families  in  splendor 
for  ages  to  come.  For  this  man  of  wealth,  seas  must  be 
crossed,  dangers  endured ;  the  whole  world  must  be  ran- 
sacked, for  costly  food  and  clothing.  Dozens  of  cringing 
o 


14  THE    LABORER; 

idle  servants  wait  to  do  his  bidding,  and  spend  more  time  to 
prepare  and  ornament  his  food,  than  it  does  the  farmer  to 
create  it.  Often  this  man  of  money  has  no  appetite,  his 
food,  which  ought  to  nourish  useful  laborers,  is  often  wast- 
ed. From  his  mansion  comes  the  sounds  of  revelry  and 
mirth,  which  mingles  with  the  plaintive  cry  of  the  news- 
boy, whose  voice  may  be  heard  sixteen  hours  in  a  day,  his 
appetite  is  sharp,  and  he  has  often  no  food ;  then  his  gnaw- 
ing stomach — tells  him  to  steal !  This  needs  reform. 

In  the  city  of  New  York  100  persons  possess  $200,000, 
ooo ;  this  would  give  to  every  five  persons  in  that  city  a 
home  worth  $1,000.  Three-fourths  of  its  people  have  no 
homes.  Such  a  state  of  things  makes  these  scenes.  This 
is  told  by  Solon  Robinson,  how  a  widow  and  four  children 
lived  on  a  dime  a  day.  She  got  two  cents'  worth  of  coke, 
three  cents'  worth  of  salt  pork,  four  cents'  worth  of  white 
beans,  and  one  cent's  worth  of  corn-meal.  This  was  boil- 
ed two  hours ;  the  soup  was  divided  into  three  parts  for  the 
day.  The  next  day's  food  was  four  cents'  worth  of  oat- 
meal, one  cents'  worth  of  potatoes,  and  same  amount  of 
pork.  The  next  day's  food  was  five  cents'  worth  of  beef, 
with  meal  and  potatoes.  This  woman  could  only  make 
two  pair  of  drawers  in  a  day,  at  five  cents  a  pair.  She 
could  not  beg.  This  is  taken  from  "  Economy  of  Food." 

Says  Wm.  Godwin:  "There  is  no  real  wealth  but  the  la- 
bor of  man.  Were  the  mountains  of  gold  and  the  valleys 
of  silver,  the  world  would  not  be  one  grain  of  corn  the 
richer;  not  one  comfort  would  be  added  to  the  human  race. 
In  consequence  of  our  consideration  for  the  precious  me- 
tals, one  man  is  enabled  to  heap  to  himself  luxuries  at  the 
expense  of  the  necessaries  of  his  neighborhood ;  a  system 
admirably  fitted  to  produce  all  the  varieties  of  disease  and 
crime,  which  never  fail  to  characterize  the  two  extremes  of 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  15 

opulence  and  penury.  A  speculator  takes  pride  to  himself 
as  the  promoter  of  his  country's  prosperity,  who  employs 
a  number  of  hands  in  the  manufacture  of  articles  avowedly 
destitute  of  use,  or  subservient  only  to  the  unhallowed 
cravings  of  luxury  and  ostentation.  The  nobleman  who 
employs  the  peasants  of  his  neighborhood  in  building  his 
palaces,  flatters  himself  that  he  has  gained  the  title  of  a  pa- 
triot by  yielding  to  the  impulses  of  vanity.  The  show  and 
pomp  of  courts  adduces  the  same  apology  for  its  continu- 
ance; and  many  a  fete  has  been  given,  many  a  woman  has 
eclipsed  her  beauty  by  her  dress,  to  benefit  the  laboring 
poor  and  to  encourage  trade.  Who  does  not  see  that  this 
is  a  remedy  which  aggravates,  whilst  it  palliates,  the  count- 
less diseases  of  society  ?  The  poor  are  set  to  labor, — for 
what  ?  Not  the  food  for  which  they  famish ;  not  the  blan- 
kets for  want  of  which  their  babes  are  frozen  by  the  cold 
of  their  miserable  hovels  ;  not  those  comforts  of  civilization 
without  which  civilized  man  is  far  more  miserable  than  the 
meanest  savage ;  oppressed  as  he  is  by  all  its  insidious  evils, 
within  the  daily  and  taunting  prospect  of  its  innumerable 
benefits  assiduously  exhibited  before  him :  no ;  for  the  pride 
of  power,  for  the  miserable  isolation  of  pride,  for  the  false 
pleasures  of  the  hundredth  part  of  society.  No  greater 
evidence  is  afforded  of  the  wide  extended  and  radical  mis- 
takes of  civilized  man  than  this  fact;  those  arts  which  are 
essential  to  his  very  being  are  held  in  the  greatest  contempt ; 
employments  are  lucrative  in  an  inverse  ratio  to  their  use- 
fulness :  the  jeweler,  the  toyman,  the  actor  gains  fame  and 
wealth  by  the  exericse  of  his  useless  and  ridiculous  art ; 
whilst  the  cultivator  of  the  earth,  he  without  whom  society 
must  cease  to  exist,  struggles  through  contempt  and  penury, 
and  perishes  by  that  famine  which,  but  for  his  unceasing 
exertions,  would  annihilate  the  rest  of  mankind. 


1 6  THE  LABORER 

"I  will  not  insult  common  sense  by  insisting  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  natural  equality  of  man.  The  question  is  not 
concerning  its  desirableness,  but  its  practicability ;  so  far 
as  it  is  practicable,  it  is  desirable.  That  state  of  human 
society  which  approaches  nearer  to  an  equal  partition  of  its 
benefits. should  be  preferred ;  but  so  long  as  we  conceive 
that  a  wanton  expenditure  of  human  labor,  not  for  necessi- 
ties, not  even  for  the  luxuries  of  the  mass  of  society,  but 
for  the  egotism  and  ostentation  of  a  few  of  its  members, 
is  defensible,  on  the  ground  of  public  justice,  so  long  we 
neglect  to  approximate  to  the  redemption  of  the  human 
race. 

u  Labor  is  required  for  physical,  and  leisure  for  moral  im- 
provement :  from  the  former  of  these  advantages  the  rich, 
and  from  the  latter  the  poor,  by  the  inevitable  conditions 
of  their  respective  situations,  are  precluded.  A  state  which 
should  combine  the  advantages  of  both,  would  be  subject- 
ed to  the  evils  of  neither.  He  that  is  deficient  in  firm 
health,  or  vigorous  intellect  is  but  half  a  man ;  hence  it  fol- 
lows, that,  to  subject  the  laboring  classes  to  unnecessary 
labor,  is  wantonly  depriving  them  of  any  opportunities  of 
intellectual  improvement ;  and  that  the  rich  are  heaping  up 
for  their  own  mischief  the  disease,  lassitude,  and  ennui,  by 
which  their  existence  is  rendered  an  intolerable  burden. 

"  Wealth  is  a  power  usurped  by  the  few,  to  compel  the 
many  to  labor  for  their  benefit.  The  laws  which  support 
this  system  derive  their  force  from  the  ignorance  of  its 
victims:  they  are  the  result  of  a  conspiracy  of  the  few 
against  the  many,  who  are  obliged  to  purchase  this  pre-emi- 
nence by  the  loss  of  all  real  comfort. 

"The  commodities  that  substantially  contribute  to  the 
subsistence  of  the  human  species  form  a  very  short  cata- 
logue ;  they  demand  from  us  a  very  slender  portion  of  our  indus- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  17 

try.  If  these  only  were  produced,  and  sufficiently  produced, 
the  species  of  man  would  be  continued.  If  the  labor  nec- 
essarily required  to  produce  them  were  equitably  divided 
among  the  poor,  and,  still  more,  if  it  were  equitably  divided 
among  all,  each  man's  share  of  labor  would  be  light,  and 
his  portion  of  leisure  would  be  ample.  There  was  a  time 
when  this  leisure  would  have  been  of  small  comparative 
value,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  time  will  come,  when  it  will 
be  applied  to  the  most  important  purposes.  Those  hours 
which  are  not  required  for  the  production  of  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  may  be  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  the  under- 
standing, the  enlarging  of  our  knowledge.  ***** 
It  was,  perhaps,  necessary  that  a  period  of  monopoly  and 
oppression  should  subsist,  before  a  period  of  cultivated 
equality  could  exist.  Savages  perhaps  would  never  have 
been  excited  to  the  discovery  of  truth  and  the  invention  of 
art,  but  by  the  narrow  motives  which  such  a  period  affords. 
But,  surely,  after  the  savage  state  has  ceased,  and  men 
have  set  out  in  the  glorious  career  of  discovery  and  inven- 
tion, monopoly  and  oppression  can  not  be  necessary  to  pre- 
vent them  from  returning  to  a  state  of  barbarism." — God- 
win's Enquirer,  Essay  II.  Pol.  Jus.,  book  viii,  chap.  u. 

It  is  a  calculation  of  this  admirable  author,  that  all  the 
conveniences  of  civilized  life  might  be  produced  if  society 
would  divide  the  labor  equally  among  its  members,  by  each 
individual  being  employed  in  labor  two  hours  during  the 
day. 

Gov.  Hammond,  of  South  Carolina,  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  in  1858,  says  :  "In  all  social  systems  there 
must  be  a  class  to  do  the  mean  duties,  to  perform  the  drudg- 
ery of  life — a  class  requiring  but  a  low  order  of  intellect 
and  but  little  skill.  Such  a  class  you  must  have,  or  you 
would  not  have  that  other  class  which  leads  to  progress, 


1 8  THE    LABORER; 

refinement,  and  civilization.  It  constitutes  the  very  mud- 
sills of  society.  The  man  who  lives  by  daily  labor,  and 
scarcely  lives  at  that,  and  who  has  to  put  his  labor  in  the 
market,  and  take  the  best  he  can  get  for  it — in  short,  your 
whole  class  of  manual  laborers  and  operatives,  as  you  call 
them,  are  slaves.  They  are  hired  by  the  day,  not  cared  for, 
and  scantily  compensated ;  which  may  be  proved,  in  the 
most  deplorable  manner,  at  any  hour,  in  any  street  in  any 
of  your  large  towns.  Your  slaves  are  white,  of  your  own 
race — you  are  brothers  of  one  blood ;  they  are  equals  in 
natural  endowment,  and  they  feel  galled  by  their  degrada- 
tion ;  your  slaves  vote,  and,  being  in  the  majority,  are  the 
depositories  of  all  your  political  power.  If  they  knew  the 
tremendous  secret  that  the  ballot-box  is  stronger  than  an 
army  with  bayonets,  and  could  combine — where  would  you 
be  ?  Your  society  and  government  would  be  reconstructed 
by  the  quiet  process  of  the  ballot-box.  How  would  you 
like  us  to  send  lecturers  or  agitators  North  to  teach  the 
people  this,  to  aid  and  assist  in  combining  and  leading 
them  ? " 

When  this  language  was  known  among  the  monarchs  of 
Europe  what  feelings  they  must  have  had.  The  great  Re- 
public had  existed  three-fourths  of  a  century  and  no  free- 
dom for  its  laborers.  Can  this  be  true  ?  The  New  York 
Tribune  gives  us  this :  "  Last  week  a  single  soup-house 
gave  out  a  ton  of  meal,  2,000  loaves  of  bread,  1,400  pints 
of  soup;  supplying  daily  2,500  persons.  Twenty  cellars 
are  near,  where,  for  a  penny  a  head,  all  colors  lie  down  pro- 
miscuously, in  bunks  at  night.  Two  pennies  will  get  some 
straw.  When  morning  breaks,  though  it  be  cold,and  snow 
is  on  the  pavement,  they  are  driven  out  sick  and  shiver- 
ing, hungry  and  unrefreshed,  into  the  dreary  streets  to  obtain, 
by  beggary  and  theft  subsistence  for  the  day.  " 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  19 

Intemperance  has  much  to  do  with  this,  it  can  be  Lettered. 
Men  are  not  wicked  before  they  are  born.  Make  society 
better  and  this  vice  will  cease.  Drunkenness  is  often  caused 
by  sorrow.  Bulwer  puts  this  language  into  the  mouth  of 
the  sorrow  stricken  woman,  "Drink!  drink!  drink!  there's 
nothing  like  drink  for  the  poor,  for  then  we  fancy  oursels 
what  we  wish."  Her  husband  was  the  giant  of  his  tribe,  a 
soldier  once,  he  died  with  hunger  "  from  frequent  famines 
that  are  the  scourge  of  Ireland."  It  is  this  scene  that 
makes  Bulwer  exclaim:  "When  will  those  hideous  dispari- 
ties be  banished  from  the  world  ?  How  many  noble  na- 
tures— how  many  glorious  hopes — how  much  of  the  ser- 
aph's intellect,  have  been  crushed  into  the  mire,  and  blasted 
into  guilt  by  the  mere  force  of  physical  want !  What  are 
the  temptations  of  the  rich  to  those  of  the  poor?  Yet 
how  lenient  we  are  to  the  crimes  of  the  one — how  relent- 
less to  those  of  the  other !  It  is  a  bad  world ;  it  makes  a 
man's  heart  sick  to  look  around  him.  The  consciousness 
of  how  little  genius  can  do  to  relieve  the  mass,  grinds  out 
as  with  a  stone,  all  that  is  generous  in  ambition ;  and  to  as- 
pire above  the  level  of  life  is  to  be  more  graspingly  selfish  ? " 

"  Can  legislators,  or  the  moralists  that  instruct  legislators, 
do  so  little  toward  universal  good  ?"  said  Lester,  doubtingly. 

"Why,  what  can  they  do  but  forward  civilization? 
And  what  is  civilization  but  an  increase  of  human  dispar- 
ities ?  The  more  the  luxury  of  the  few,  the  more  startling 
the  wants  and  the  more  galling  the  sense  of  poverty.  Even 
the  dreams  of  the  philanthropist  only  tend  toward  equality; 
and  where  is  equality  to  be  found  but  in  the  state  of  the  sav- 
age? No;  I  thought  otherwise  once;  but  I  now  regard 
the  vast  Lazar-house  around  us  without  any  hope  of  relief: 
Death  is  the  sole  physician !  " 

The  remedy  for  this  is  universal  labor.     Intemperance  is 


2O  THE  LABORER  ; 

caused  much  of  it  by  extremes  of  wealth  and  poverty.  The 
sons  of  the  rich,  by  having  no  occupation,  learn  vice.  The 
poor  in  cities  with  their  small,  cheerless  homes,  with  no  at- 
tainments in  learning,  are  many  of  them  ensnared  in  the  de- 
corated saloons.  A  remedy  for  intemperance  is  rural  life. 
Land-speculators  put  a  check  on  this.  This  class  are  the 
bane  of  society ;  they,  with  whisky  makers  and  sellers,  poi- 
son human  society.  Many  a  family  has  been  pushed  among 
the  Indians,and  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  those  human  parasites. 
These  make  many  parts  of  this  land  neither  savage  nor 
civilized — a  wilderness.  A  concentrated  people  have  better 
roads,  school-houses,  and  churches.  Why  should  a  labor- 
er give  $400  for  forty  acres  of  wild  land,  that  only  cost 
fifty;  and  has  no  labor  on  it.  Land  speculators  have  no 
moral  right  to  lands  they  can  not  cultivate ;  they  have  no 
benevolence,  or  moral  feelings !  Why  should  laborers  go 
without  comforts  that  others  may  have  luxuries  ?  If  lands 
held  for  speculation  were  ordered  to  be  cultivated,  popula- 
tion would  increase  to  pay  a  nation's  debts.  National  lands: 

Improved  lands 163,210,720  acres. 

Unimproved  lands  inclosed 244,101,808      " 

Uncultivated  territory 1,466,969,862     " 

25,500  farms  exceed 500     " 

One-fifth  of  the  farms  only   exceed 100     " 

The  quantity  of  improved  land  for  each  inhabitant  is 
fifty  acres,  and  also  600  acres  of  wild  land.  Eighty  years 
must  pass  away  before  this  will  come  into  cultivation.  It 
would  be  a  great  benefit  to  this  country  if  wild  lands  were 
pot  sold  to  any  one.  The  Cin.  Gazette,  of  Jan.  a8th,  1868, 
says:  "Somebody  has  introduced  a  bill,  to  grant  a  million 
of  acres,  to  the  District  of  Columbia,  for  educational  pur- 
poses. No  one  thinks  the  public  lands  of  any  use  but  to 
squander.  This  has  been  transferred  into  the  hands  of 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  21 

speculators,  to  the  injury  of  settlers,  until  it  will  fetch,  per- 
haps, twenty  times  the  cost.  This  is  the  most  costly  way 
Congress  can  devise  for  school  purposes.  The  system,  of 
granting  public  lands  to  corporations,  is  the  worst  system  of 
internal  improvements  that  was  ever  invented.'7  This 
same  paper  tells  us  Congress  has  given  to  railroads  lands 
to  the  amount  of  305,000,000  of  acres.  Words  can  not  tell 
how  wicked  is  this  gift,  to  the  present  and  to  future  gen- 
erations. 

Capital  has  been  defined  an  accumulation  of  labor.  A 
laborer  wants  a  house,  he  creates  food  and  clothes  to  con- 
sume while  building  it.  This  builder  says  to  another,  if  you 
will  help  me,  I  will  give  you  half  of  the  food  and  clothes. 
The  builder  has  a  right  to  his  home,  he  paid  for  it  with  toil. 
Those  who  fed  and  clothed  the  workmen,  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Railroad,  ought  to  possess  it.  It  is  said  the  Roths- 
childs have  built  this  road,  at  a  cost  of  $20,000,000.  Did 
these  men  and  their  partners  make  clothes  and  food  with 
their  own  hands?  No,  they  have  got  others  to  do  it.  The 
printing  of  $20,000,000  costs  $40,000,  this  is  all  the  cost 
put  forth  to  get  this  road.  It  takes  34,000  laborers  one 
year  to  build  the  road.  It  will  take  a  printer  two  years  to 
print  this  amount.  This  company  had  from  government 
3,500,000  acres  of  land.  What  has  been  sold  has  brought 
nearly  $30,000,000.  The  State  authorities  could  have  is- 
sued $20,000,000,  and  would  have  had  yearly  $2,000,000 
for  school  purposes.  These  lands,  towns,  and  road  will 
in  twenty  years  give  an  annual  income  of  $10,000,000; 
when  this  amount  is  squandered,  its  recipients  will  smile  at 
the  simplicity  of  the  common  people.  This  company  has 
seventy  towns  that  give  revenues  from  lots. 

We  are  often  told  that  wars  with  England  have  been  the 
means  of  introducing  manufactures  among  us,  to  our  ad- 


22  THE    LABORER; 

vantage.  The  $30,000,000,  that  has  been  spent  in  111  nois 
for  railroads,  would  have  put  linen  and  woolen  factories 
all  over  the  State.  A  people  who  send  their  wool  1,000 
miles  to  be  spun,  wear  costly  clothing.  Greeley  says  "  Why 
should  500  men  be  the  carriers  between  500  farmers  and 
500  mechanics."  A  plea  is  made  that  giving  away  lands  to 
railroads  promotes  public  good ;  it  is  not  so.  Franklin,  in 
1739,  printed  paper  money  for  the  authorities  of  the  colony 
of  Pennsylvania.  By  means  of  five  loan  commissioners  this 
colony  paid  nearly  all  the  public  expenses.  This  money 
lasted  till  1774;  it  was  always  good,  and  uniform  in  amount. 
The  colony  of  South  Carolina  loaned  paper  money  on  silver 
plate  and  lands  in  1750.  The  interest  was  used  for  fighting 
Indians.  Franklin's  money  was  loaned  on  lands.  This 
money  rendered  bankers,  carriers,  and  railroad  builders  not 
necessary;  these  eat  up  food,  and  have  the  most  luxuries. 

What  the  colonies  did  with  paper  money,  could  have 
been  done  in  Illinois ;  had  the  State  printed  the  money, 
hired  the  laborers,  the  people  would  have  a  circulating  me- 
dium and  a  revenue.  This  tells  how  happy  were  the  colo- 
nies :  tc  The  economy  which  is  so  particularly  attended  to 
in -Pennsylvania  does  not  prevent  both  sexes  from  being 
well  clothed ;  there  is  a  constant  plenty,  and  a  universal  ap- 
pearance of  easy  circumstances.  The  pleasing  view  of  this 
abundance  is  never  disturbed  by  the  melancholy  appearance 
of  poverty.  There  are  no  poor  in  all  Pennsylvania.  A  trav- 
eler is  welcome  to  stop  in  any  place,  without  uneasy  sensa- 
tions, except  regret  at  departure."*  The  giving  away  of  the 
wild  lands  should  be  to  those  who  will  cultivate  them. 

Toussaint  Breda,  a  slave,  in  the  island  of  St.  Domingo,  in 
the  latter  part  of  last  century,  was  taught  to  read  by  a  slave 
who  had  learned  of  the  Jesuits.  Toussaint  got  from  his 

*Abbe  Raynal's  E.  and  W.  Indies,  vol.  6th,  page  17.     Strahan,  London, 1798 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  23 

overseer  the  writings  of  Abbe  Raynal,  he  read  these  words: 
"  What  stiall  be  done  to  overthrow  slavery.  Self-interest 
alone  governs  nations  and  kings.  We  must  look  elsewhere. 
These  are  so  many  indications  of  the  impending  storm,  and 
the  negroes  only  want  a  courageous  chief  to  lead  them  on 
to  vengeance  and  slaughter. 

"Where  is  the  great  man  whom  nature  owes  to  her  vexed, 
oppressed,  and  tormented  children  ?  Where  is  he  ?  He 
will  undoubtedly  appear,  he  will  show  himself,  he  will  lift 
up  the  sacred  standard  of  liberty.  This  venerable  signal 
will  collect  around  him  the  companions  of  his  misfortunes. 
They  will  rush  on  with  more  impetuosity  than  torrents; 
they  will  leave  behind  them  traces  of  their  resentment. " 

In  1787,  the  island  contained  30,000  whites,  20,000  free 
mulattoes,  the  children  of  planters,  and  500,000  slaves. 
The  Assembly  of  the  French,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Rev- 
olution proclaimed,  that  slavery  should  cease.  The  free 
blacks  sent  deputies  to  the  Assembly,  with  $1,000,000  and 
offered  to  mortgage  a  fifth  of  their  property  for  the  debts  of 
France,  for  the  privilege  of  being  equal  with  the  whites  in 
law.  This  led  to  fighting  between  the  two  classes.  The 
English  invaded  the  island  under  Gen.  Maitland.  Tous- 
saint  and  his  fellow  slaves  drove  them  out  of  the  island. 
Slavery  was  ended  through  the  teachings  of  a  slave,  who 
had  been  taught  to  read ;  he  remembered  the  teachings  of 
the  good  Abbe  Raynal.  Will  some  one  deliver  us. 

We  have  misery  around  us  which  may  be  seen.  "A  la- 
borer has  to  put  forth  incessant  toil  to  keep  his  head  above 
the  rising  waters  of  indigence ;  at  the  first  trifling  accident 
these  close  around  and  overwhelm  him.  For  the  thousand 
casualties  of  life  there  is  not  the  scantiest  provision.  The 
indisposition  of  a  day  curtails  the  amount  of  food  that  is  dealt 
out  the  next  day.  A  week's  sickness  threatens  with  starva 


24  THE  LABORER; 

tion  his  wife  and  little  ones."*     Strange  confession  is  this. 

Relief  will  come,  it  is  to  be  inferred  from  this :  "Doubtless, 
there  are  great  statesmen ;  wizards  in  bullion  and  bank- 
paper  ;  thinkers  profound  in  cotton,  and  every  turn  and  va- 
riation of  the  markets  abroad  and  at  home.  But  there  are 
statesmen  yet  to  come ;  statesmen  of  nobler  aims — of  more  heroic 
action ;  teachers  of  the  people ;  vindicators  of  the  universal 
dignity  of  man  ;  apostles  of  the  great  social  truth  that  knowl- 
edge, which  is  the  spiritual  light  of  God,  like  his  material 
light  was  made  to  bless  and  comfort  all  men.  And  when 
these  men  arise — and  it  is  worse  than  weak,  it  is  sinful,  to 
despair  of  them — the  youngling  poor  will  not  be  bound  upon 
the  very  threshold  of  human  life,  and  made,  by  want  and 
ignorance,  life's  shame  and  curse.  There  is  not  a  babe  ly- 
ing in  the  public  street  on  its  mother's  lap — the  unconscious 
mendicant  to  ripen  into  the  criminal — that  is  not  a  reproach 
to  the  state ;  a  scandal  and  a  crying  shame  upon  men  who 
study  all  politics,  save  the  politics  of  the  human  heart. "f 

The  reader  can  learn  from  "  The  Rights  of  Man,"  some 
of  the  causes  of  human  woe:  u  There  is  a^  family  of  five  per- 
sons, the  farmer  becomes  king,  the  family  have  no  food  ;  the 
weaver  becomes  a  gold  seeker,  the  family  have  no  clothes ; 
the  hatter  becomes  a  custom-house  officer,  the  family  have 
no  hats ;  the  shoemaker  becomes  a  banker,  the  family  have 
no  shoes.  Society  is  a  large  family,  and  they  must  be  useful." 

*  Speech  before  Cin.  Mercantile  Library,  1848,  by  R.  D.  Owen,    f  D.  Jerrold. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ANCIENT  AND  MODERN  SLAVERY. 

SLAVERY  IN  GREECE  AND  ROME — IN  NORTHERN  AFRICA — IN  AMERICA — 

SLAVERY  NECESSARY  TO  IMPROVE  THE  CONDITION  OF  MEN — SLAVERY 

NOT  NECESSARY  WHEN  NATIONS  ARE  IMPROVED. 

"Mankind  is  always  consuming  men  for  luxury  and  civilization."  COUNTESS  IDA. 

(ISTORY  is  a  long  record  of  wars  and  slavery. 
How  painful  is  the  contemplation  of  slavery  !  the 
separation  of  its  victims  from  friends  and  home,  to 
spend  a  life  in  unmitigated  toil ;  without  reward,  kindness, 
or  sympathy ;  to  be  treated  in  life  and  death  like  brutes. 
We  might  inquire,  why  does  the  Father  of  us  all  permit  a 
part  of  his  helpless  creatures  to  be  thus  tormented  ?  None 
to  defend  or  vindicate  them  !  We  can  not  answer. 

When  man  was  first  placed  on  this  earth,  it  was  in  a 
part  where  the  climate  was  warm ;  where  the  fruits  were 
perpetual,  and  only  needed  gathering.  In  a  country  like 
this  invention  would  not  be  very  rapid,  or  have  no  exist- 
ence. As  men  increased  they  would  have  to  migrate  to 
climates  that  changed,  from  heat  to  cold ;  where  the  fruits 
perished,  and  only  prevailed  a  part  of  the  year.  This 
would  quicken  invention,  and  improve  the  intellect.  Trees 
or  caves  would  not  do  for  habitations.  Clothing  has  to  be 
comfortable,  the  houses  durable.  The  people  of  the  new 
colony  are  superior  to  those  they  left.  The  flesh  of  ani- 
mals would  be  used  as  food.  This  would  call  for  instru- 

(25) 


26  THE  LABORER; 

ments  to  bring  down  the  game,  and  which  can  be  used 
for  the  destruction  of  men.  When  this  colony  increased 
migration  again  took  place,  either  to  ruder  climes  or  back 
to  the  starting  point.  If  these  were  not  received  kindly 
force  can  be  used  with  effect.  This  invaded  people  fall  an 
easy  prey  to  the  ferocious  hunters.  Failure  of  crops  pro- 
duces a  war.  Hunger  makes  men  savage  and  fearless,  and 
they  go  where  there  is  food.  From  war  comes  the  sparing 
of  the  lives  of  prisoners,  on  condition  of  becoming  slaves. 
It  was  no  doubt  hunger  that  compelled  the  Northmen  to 
conquer  Normandy  and  Britain.  England  was  barbarous 
before  the  advent  of  the  Romans.  The  various  conquests 
she  has  undergone  has  given  refinement,  learning,  and 
abundance  to  a  few ;  which  sometime  or  other  will  belong 
to  the  many. 

These  painful  facts  will  throw  some  light  on  the  motives 
for  conquest :  "  The  failure  of  crops  for  seven  successive 
years  in  Swedish  Nordland,  has  brought  some  300,000 
persons  to  starvation,  and  many  of  them  to  death,  and  now 
their  miserable  bread,  made  of  bark  and  straw,  has  given 
out.  They  sit  in  their  cheerless  huts  and  die."* 

This  suffering  described  here  is  calculated  to  make  men 
ingenious  and  frugal.  "  Indeed  it  is  a  fortunate  thing  that 
the  people  are  not  more  numerous,  for  bad  harvests  are 
very  frequent  in  this  rude  climate ;  it  is  impossible  to  pro- 
vide against  occasional  scarcity  of  food,  and  one  would  not 
wish  there  should  be  a  greater  number  of  poor  to  suffer  from 
it.  A  large  population  is  commonly  considered  a  sign  "of 
prosperity,  but  it  is  only  where  they  are  certain  of  having 
bread  to  eat.  The  earth  will  not  complain,  if  she  is  left  un- 
cultivated, but  man  will  complain  bitterly  if  he  must  suffer 
the  cravings  of  hunger.  When  population  once  begins  to 

*W.  W.  Thomas  representative  to  Sweden. — Cin.  Com.  of  Mar.  6th,  1868. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  27 

advance,  it  increases  rapidly,  in  a  ratio  far  exceeding  that  in 
which  the  earth's  fertility  can  be  increased,  so  that  in  a  very 
short  time  all  equality  ceases  between  the  demand  and  sup- 
ply. Then  want  begins  and  advances  with  the  increasing 
population,  offering  this  strange  problem :  '  The  less  bread 
the  more  children.'  *  As  for  the  poor  old  earth,  I  hope  she 
is  quite  insensible  to  a  great  deal  that  passes  upon  her,  or 
her  emotions  must  be  of  a  most  painful  kind.  Oh  God ! 
her  hardest  rocks  might  be  softened  by  the  torrents  of  tears, 
blood,  and  sweat,  which  have  poured  on  her  in  an  increased 
shower.  No,  no !  the  earth  is  hard  and  firm,  and  sympa- 
thizes neither  with  our  sorrow  or  our  joys.  Mankind  is  al- 
ways consuming  men  for  its  own  luxury  and  civilization, 
sometimes  by  war,  maufactures,  hunger,  sorrow,  and  care. 
Why  should  we  give  it  any  more  to  consume  ?  When  a 
man  is  born  we  would  wish  him  to  have  a  little  happiness. 
Yet  it  is  upon  the  classes  that  are  the  most  numerous — the 
hard-working,  industrious  classes,  that  misery  is  sure  to  fall. 
It  is  in  a  strange  world  we  live  in.  God  mend  it !  But  it 
seems  to  me  so  much  warped  on  one  side,  that  it  will  by 
and  by  turn  itself  quite  over  on  the  other. "f 

The  spirit  of  conquest  is  not  ended.  The  occupation  of 
India  will  in  time  fill  it  with  steam  engines,  and  clear  its 
jungles  of  tigers.  Many  parts  of  Algiers  abound  with  lions; 
that  take  a  fourth  of  the  cattle.  The  French  will  destroy 
these,  as  they  have  conquered  this  land. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  some  voyagers  visited 
Patagonia ;  they  tell  us  the  natives  wore  no  clothing,  and 
the  snow  beat  on  their  bodies,  and  they  eat  snails,  and  shell 
fish.  The  deer  were  in  the  distance,  and  they  had  no  power 

*This  lady  has  feelings  for  working  people.     She  has  not  learned  that  three- 
fourths  of  the  earth  is  a  wilderness,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  rich  to  work. 
[Travels  in  Sweden,  by  Bahn  Bahn — COUNTESS  IDA. 


28  THE  LABORER; 

to  strike  them  down.  A  nation  too  full  some  will  have 
to  leave.  If  the  country  of  these  savages  will  sustain  more, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  poor  Northmen  to  go  there,  and  use 
kindness  to  the  natives.  Persuading  them  to  learn  better 
ways  may  have  no  effect.  It  will  not  be  wrong  to  use  force 
to  make  them  improve.  "  The  punishment  of  nature,  hun- 
ger and  want/'  is  not  any  more  severe  than  slavery.  In- 
dian slavery  can  only  be  accomplished  if  there  are  no  means 
of  escape.  England  after  it  was  left  by  the  Romans,  from 
whom  many  arts  were  obtained,  was  invaded  from  Scotland. 
The  Britons  wrote  to  Rome  for  help,  saying:  "The  barba- 
rians are  driving  us  into  the  sea."  No  help  came  the  in- 
habitants submitted,  and  learned  the  ways  of  the  conquerors. 

For  civilization  the  Indian  has  no  wish;  there  he  sees  the 
laborer  have  no  homes,  living  in  cellars  and  garrets,  going 
about  begging  work,  often  used  with  contumely.  The  In- 
dian burns  trees  down  for  want  of  an  ax ;  his  hut  is  made 
of  peeled  bark.  In  1621,  two  of  the  Pilgrims  visited  the 
Indians,  they  could  give  them  nothing  to  eat ;  two  small 
fish  were  divided  among  forty,  the  visitors  came  away  while 
they  had  strength.  Savage  life  is  precarious  in  subsistence, 
so  is  civilization,  we  need  something  better.  * 

These  extracts  will  show  what  changes  and  cruelties, 
have  been  used  to  make  man  what  he  is.  Slavery  existed 
in  Greece  from  her  earliest  history ;  it  prevailed  in  the  days 
of  Homer ;  in  all  the  Grecian  states  a  majority  were  slaves. 
In  Athens  there  were  three  slaves  to  one  freeman;  in  Sparta 
the  proportion  was  greater.  The  Spartans  treated  slaves 
with  humanity,  the  Athenians  were  the  opposite.  The  in- 
troduction of  agriculture  led  to  the  sparing  of  the  lives  of 
prisoners  to  cultivate  the  earth.  The  commerce  of  the 

*  THOMAS  RABOLD,  a  tailor  hanged  himself  eight  miles  from  Louisville. 
Poverty  and  failure  to  obtain  employment  the  cause. — Com.  Mar  25th,  1868. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  29 

Chians,  the  early  Greeks,  led  them  to  visit  parts  of  Asia 
Minor,  and  the  Southern  coasts  of  the  Black  Sea,  where 
they  purchased  slaves.  The  yoke  of  bondage  was  galling  ; 
the  slaves  took  refuge  in  the  mountains.  These  bondmen 
chose  a  leader.  The  Chians  could  not  conquer  them,  but 
suffered  defeat.  The  bondmen  made  these  terms,  if  their 
necessities  required  it,  they  should  be  supplied  out  of  the 
Chian  stores  in  an  orderly  manner.  The  ruler  of  the  slaves 
punished  the  unruly,  and  would  not  allow  them  to  waste  the 
country.  In  process  of  time  the  Chians  were  subjugated 
by  Mithridates,who  gave  them  to  their  own  slaves,  to  be  car- 
ried into  captivity.  The  Athenians  considered  this  a  just 
punishment,  for  introducing  the  slave-trade  into  Greece. 

In  Athens  slaves  could  indict  their  masters  for  assault. 
The  temples  were  to  them  places  of  refuge  for  safety.  In 
times  of  war  the  Grecians  were  good  to  their  slaves,  as 
flogged  slaves  go  over  to  the  enemy.  Slaves  were  sold  at  auc- 
tion, on  tables.  Owners  hired  them  out.  In  Athens  slaves 
were  public  and  private;  clerks  and  messengers  of  pub- 
lic works ;  they  were  educated,  and  accompanied  the  gen- 
erals and  treasurers  of  the  army,  and  kept  an  account  of  the 
expenditures.  Slaves,  in  the  dwellings  of  the  wealthy  and 
luxurious,  fanned  their  masters  and  mistresses,  and  drove 
away  the  flies.  Slave  bakers  had  gloves  on  while  making 
bread,  and  wore  gauze  over  their  mouths,  so  as  they  could 
not  eat  what  they  made.  They  turned  mills,  carried  water, 
and  cut  wood. 

The  Helots  were  named  from  the  town  Helos,  from  it 
they  were  taken  1,000  B.  C.  They  were  the  property  of 
the  state,  who  had  the  disposal  of  their  freedom  and  servi- 
tude, and  gave  them  to  different  masters.  Lycurgus  pro- 
hibited the  Spartans  from  laboring.  If  these  Helots  increas- 
ed too  fast,  the  young  Spartans,  it  is  said,  were  sent  out  to 
4 


30  THE  LABORER  ; 

assassinate  them.  Their  number  was  estimated  at  500,000. 
They  several  times  rose  against  their  masters,  but  without 
any  success.  Plutarch  tells  us,  "  Youths  distinguished  for 
ability  were  sent  forth,  armed  with  daggers  and  furnished 
with  provisions,  to  scour  the  country  at  night,  to  slaughter 
all  the  Helots  found  abroad.  Sometimes  they  fell  on  them 
while  they  were  at  their  labors  in  the  fields."  Sometimes 
they  were  offered  the  gift  of  freedom,  crowned  with  gar- 
lands, conducted  to  the  temples — then  they  disappeared ; 
their  fate  was  unknown. 

The  Helots  were  a  source  of  terror ;  they  revolted  when 
they  could,  and  joined  an  enemy  when  he  appeared.  Sparta 
often  stipulated  for  aid  from  foreign  states.  The  serfs  of 
the  Syracusans  were  so  exceeding  numerous,  that  it  gave 
them  courage,  and  they  drove  out  their  masters,  and  re- 
tained Syracuse. 

The  Sicilians  treated  their  slaves  with  rigor,  branded 
them  like  cattle,  and  gave  them  incessant  toil.  Ennius  ex- 
cited them  to  a  revolution.  Houses  were  pillaged,  the  in- 
habitants slaughtered,  and  infants  dashed  on  the  ground. 
At  one  time  60,000  insurgents  were  armed  with  axes  and 
clubs,  and  they  defeated  several  armies. 

The  people  of  Rome  were  nobles,  plebeians,  and  slaves. 
As  Rome  extended  her  domfnions,  the  nobles  acquired 
large  estates,  which  were  cultivated  with  the  labor  of  slaves. 
Their  numbers  were  so  great,  that  the  poor  freeman  were 
unemployed.  It  was  to  remedy  this  evil  that  some  of  the 
Roman  rulers,  were  for  limiting  the  quantity  of  land.  The 
elder  Gracchus  saw  that  slavery  impoverished  the  people 
and  that  the  nation  needed  little  farms  nursing  an  indepen- 
dent race,  and  the  plow  in  their  hands,  and  not  in  the  hands 
of  slaves.  Some  of  the  nobles  possessed  10,000  slaves,  some 
20,000.  The  constant  wars  of  Rome  increased  slaves. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  31 

Spartacus  was  compelled  to  serve  in  the  Roman  army,  he 
was  a  Thracian  by  birth,  he  deserted  and  at  the  head  of  his 
companions  carried  on  a  partisan  war.  He  was  taken  pris- 
oner and  sold  as  a  slave,  to  be  reserved  as  a  gladiator.  He 
formed  a  conspiracy  among  the  slaves  and  escaped.  He 
was  joined  by  10,000  slaves.  Spartacus  plundered  several 
of  the  cities  in  Italy.  He  had  60,000  followers,  and  de- 
feated the  legions  many  times  that  were  sent  against  him. 
The  various  classes  of  slaves  of  this  period,  became  the  serfs 
of  the  middle  ages.  Slaves  trained  to  be  gladiators  show 
how  wicked  is  man.  These  had  to  fight  each  other  with 
short  swords,  and  sometimes  engage  with  wild  beasts.  At 
other  times  a  gladiator  would  throw  a  net  over  another,  if 
he  failed  he  retreated,  the  other  pursued  to  kill  him.  A 
hook  was  fastened  into  those  who  were  slain,  and  they  were 
dragged  out  of  the  arena.  These  scenes  were  forbidden  by 
Christian  emperors. 

Accounts  of  the  wealth  and  splendor  of  the  first  classes, 
in  Rome,  almost  exceed  belief.  A  writer  of  this  period,  de- 
scribing the  state  of  Rome  under  Honorius,  relates  that 
several  of  the  senators  received  from  their  estates  an  annual 
sum  of  $800,000.  Provisions  of  corn  and  wine,  which,  if 
sold  would  have  realized  one-third  of  that  sum.  The  estates 
of  these  patricians  spread  over  distant  provinces,  and,  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Seneca,  "  Rivers  which  had  divided  hos- 
tile nations  flowed  through  lands  of  private  citizens."  With 
such  resources  at  their  command,  there  were  no  bounds  to 
their  extravagances.  "  Many  of  their  mansions  might  ex- 
cuse the  exaggeration  of  the  poet,  that  Rome  contained  a 
multitude  of  palaces,  and  that  each  palace  was  equal  to  a 
city;  since  it  included  within  its  precincts  every  thing  which 
could  be  subservient  to  the  use  of  luxury — markets,  hippo- 
dromes, temples,  fountains,  baths,  porticoes,  groves,  and 


32  THE  LABORER; 

aviaries/'*  The  house  of  Scaurus  was  valued  at  the  sum 
$3,603,000.  The  lower  apartments  were  occupied  by  at- 
tendants. The  upper  apartments  were  filled  with  tables 
and  couches,  and  adorned  with  curtains.  Garlands  en- 
twined with  ivy  divided  the  walls  into  compartments,  which 
were  bordered  by  fanciful  ornaments.  Bronze  lamps  sus- 
pended from  the  ceiling  shed  a  brilliant  light.  The  tables 
were  of  citron-wood  more  precious  than  gold,  and  rested 
on  ivory  feet.  The  couches  were  overlaid  with  silver,  gold, 
and  tortoise  shell ;  the  mattresses  were  of  Gallic  wool,  dyed 
purple  ;  the  cushions  of  silk  embroidered  with  gold,  cost 
$150,000.  The  pavement  was  mosaic  and  represented  the 
fragments  of  a  feast  not  swept  away.  Young  slaves  strew- 
ed over  the  pavement  saw-dust  dyed  with  vermillion. 

In  the  fourth  century  the  Roman  nobility  carried  out  lux- 
ury to  the  greatest  excess.  They  adorned  their  houses  with 
magnificent  statues  of  themselves,  their  robes  were  of  the 
most  costly  kind,  and  became  a  burden  to  the  wearer  on 
account  of  the  weight  of  embroidery.  When  they  travel- 
ed any  distance,  so  large  was  their  retinue  that  it  was  like 
the  march  of  an  army.  Their  tables  were  covered  with 
the  rarest  delicacies,  and  the  pleasures  of  the  feast  occupied 
much  of  the  time.  Concerts,  visiting,  baths,  theaters,  and 
other  amusements  took  the  rest  of  the  time.  Roman  sim- 
plicity had  been  succeeded  by  oriental  magnificence.  Ser- 
vices of  plate  set  with  precious  stones,  furniture  of  costly 
materials  and  most  elaborate  workmanship,  banqueting  halls 
of  florid  architecture,  baths  of  marble,  and  villas  surrounded 
with  enchanting  gardens,  were  now  signs  of  greatness  in- 
stead of  valor  in  the  field,  or  wisdom  in  the  cabinet. 

Many  of  the  plebeians  forsook  all  industrious  employ- 
ments, lived  upon  the  public  distribution  of  bread,  bacon, 

*  Gibbon,  vol.  iv.    page  94. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  33 

oil,  and  wine,  which,  from  the  time  of  Augustus,  had  been 
made  for  the  relief  of  the  indigent.  These  idlers  spent  some 
of  their  time  in  baths  and  taverns,  which  great  men  with 
the  emperor  provided,  so  as  to  be  popular.  "  Some  passed 
the  nights  in  taverns,  and  under  the  awnings  of  the  theaters, 
they  played  dice,  and  went  to  the  circus,  and  discussed 
the  merits  of  the  horses  and  charioteers.  "  * 

Slaves  formed  a  large  portion  of  the  population  of  Rome. 
They  were  artisans  and  devoted  to  the  professions.  They 
were  physicians,  librarians,  and  secretaries.  At  one  time 
the  possessors  of  slaves  scourged  and  put  them  to  death  at 
pleasure.  Under  the  emperors  Adrian  and  the  Antonines, 
the  shield  of  legal  protection  was  thrown  over  this  oppress- 
ed portion  of  society.  Some  amelioration  was  secured,  no 
doubt,  during  the  last  age  of  the  empire ;  but  the  wrongs 
inseparable  from  slavery  were  still  endured,  and  a  disposi- 
tion to  be  avenged  on  their  oppressors  was  still  nourished ; 
for  amid  the  scenes  of  violence  which  marked  the  taking  of 
Rome  by  Alaric,  when  40,000  slaves  joined  the  Goths  in 
shedding  Roman  blood,  and  in  trampling  into  dust  the  re- 
mains of  Roman  greatness.  That  the  servile  part  of  the 
Roman  population,  ministering  as  they  did  to  the  luxury, 
the  extravagance,  and  the  vices  of  their  masters,  partook  of 
.the  prevalent  moral  corruption  of  the  times  is  certain,  f 

It  was  self-interest  that  induced  the  rulers  of  Europe  to 
put  an  end  to  the  sale  of  men  with  estates.  Slavery  was  to 
those  who  used  it  troublesome  and  painful.  The  owners 
of  lands  knew  that  rents  would  give  the  same  results  that 
slavery  did,  splendor  and  magnificence,  without  whipping  or 
feigned  sickness,  or  the  care  of  feeble  childhood  and  help- 
less age.  The  lords  of  Britain  knew  that,  being  surround- 
ed with  water,  the  laborers  could  not  escape,  and  that  they 

*Ammiunu3  Marcellinus,  lib.,  xiv.  c.  25.     f  See  Gibbon's  Roman  Empire. 


34  THE  LABORER; 

would  still  contribute  to  their  idleness  and  luxury.  The 
nicety  of  legislation,  wherever  used,  is  to  give  the  laborer 
sufficient  to  keep  him  alive,  and  not  enough  to  make  him 
independent.  How  much  has  the  laborer  gained  ?  Splen- 
dor and  magnificence  meet  the  eye  every-where !  The  la- 
borer lives  in  a  humble  manner,  under  the  fear  of  want,  and 
others  having  more  ability  are  unceasingly,  and  unobserved, 
consuming  his  labor.  Religion  and  learning  are  often  used 
to  favor  the  rich  man.  Light  and  knowledge  sometime 
or  other  will  descend  on  the  humble  man,  and  this  home 
will  be  a  model  of  his. 

A  ROTHSCHILD'S  HOME. — You  go  up  a  flight  of  marble 
steps,  a  vestibule  opens  on  one  of  the  most  spacious  halls 
in  Europe  furnished  as  a  reception  room,  and  lighted  from 
the  roof  which  is  muffled  glass.  At  night  an  arrangement 
of  gas  illuminates  the  vast  space.  A  gallery  runs  around 
the  upper  part  of  the  hall,  into  which  party  rooms  open. 
The  lower  floor  contains  the  family  apartments. 

Purple  velvet  portiers  have  an  admirable  effect  at  each  end 
of  the  salle,  which  has  been  constructed  on  the  most  per- 
fect accoustic  principles.  The  effect  of  music  here  is  mar- 
velous. Ordinary  paper  hangings  are  banished,  and  each 
room  is  hung  with  tapestry,  velvet  or  silk.  Every  visitor 
has  a  splendid  drawing-room,  boudoir,  bedroom,  and  dress- 
ing-room. In  every  dressing-room  is  a  gorgeous  dressing- 
case — ivory  brushes  surmounted  with  the  Baron's  coronet ; 
silver  boxes  containing  c osmetique  poudre  de  r/V,  exquisite  hand 
mirrors,  mounted  in  sculptured  ivory,  silver,  and  sandal 
wood.  A  scent  bottle  of  costly  workmanship  contained  a 
jeweled  watch,  a  fair  lady  using  the  perfume  was  informed 
of  the  time  of  the  day.  Hot  and  cold  water  supply  each 
dressing-room.  To  describe  the  thrones  taken  from  the 
summer  palace  at  Pekin,  the  jeweled  cup  from  Cellina's 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  35 

chisel,  the  crystal  beakers  from  Venice,  the  hangings  of 
green-broidered  satin,  in  the  Baron's  own  bedroom,  is  be- 
yond description.  Menemo's  queen  would  be  puzzled  to 
tell  what  are  the  half  of  all  the  treasures  of  art  in  each 
room.  It  is  a  positive  relief  to  go  on  the  grounds,  where 
the  power  of  attention  has  fewer  calls.  These  grounds  are 
reached  through  a  series  of  conservatories  and  hot-houses, 
filled  with  Flora's  choicest  gifts,  and  the  rarest  specimens 
of  the  sculptor's  art,  and  enlivened  by  the  brightest-winged 
birds  of  the  tropics.  The  grounds  are  diversified  by  sheets 
of  water,  on  which  are  fairy  boats.  A  number  of  gazelles, 
elands,  and  all  the  foreign  animals,  of  the  harmless  species, 
enjoy  this  Eden.  In  the  Baron's  absence  the  visitors  get 
princely  food ;  the  cellar  contributes  to  their  enjoyment  the 
finest  Madeira  in  Europe. 

This  description  should  awaken  a  feeling  of  indignation. 
Hundreds  must  be  employed  to  beautify  and  adorn  this 
place,  at  the  expense  of  the  most  deserving  part  of  the  com- 
munity. Many  say  this  gives  employment.  Men  should 
do  work  only  for  themselves,  they  will  have  more.  The 
robber  takes  your  money  in  disguise.  Does  it  atone  for 
his  crime  to  purchase  your  goods,  or  set  you  to  work?  No! 

The  sophisms  men  of  wealth  have  started  are  the  same 
as  the  robber's  plea.  The  means  put  forth  to  get  this  ex- 
treme wealth  is,  "interest,"  "rent,"  and  "profit."  The 
time  is  coming  when  toilers  will  be  more  intelligent,  and  not 
so  selfish  as  they  are  now,  and  will  keep  the  fruits  of  labor. 

"It  is  said  there  are  in  the  city  of  New  York,  not  less 
than  a  dozen  houses,  that  cost  $1,000,000  to  $1,500,000, 
each  rivaling  the  royal  palaces  of  Europe,  only  inferior  in 
point  of  magnitude.  The  most  elegant  residence  in  the 
city  cost  $250,000.  Another  residence  has  fitted  up  five 
rooms  at  a  cost  of  $54,000.  A  single  room  has  been  fitted 


36  THE  LABORER; 

up  at  a  cost  of  $30,000.  Side  by  side  with  these  palaces  is 
misery  worthy  of  the  old  world."* 

Servants  are  only  removed  a  few  degrees  from  the  slave. 
Many  of  them  by  frugality  may  rise  above  their  condition. 
It  is  not  their  duty  to  invest  their  earnings,  so  as  to  get  the 
earnings  of  others,  or  be  the  dupes  of  those  who  are  wiser. 
The  Romans  called  their  slaves  servi^  from  servare,  to 
"keep  or  save,"  those  who  were  not  killed  in  battle,  and 
made  to  yield  money  by  sale  or  work.  Slaves  were  taken 
from  Britain  and  sold  in  the  market-place  at  Rome.  The 
word  slave  comes  from  Sclavus,  the  name  of  a  Sythian 
people,  whom  Charlemagne  condemmed  to  imprisonment. 
The  Italians  and  Germans  used  to  buy  those  Sclavonians  to 
make  drudges  of  them.  The  proper  name  of  a  nation  in 
time  became  the  name  of  a  condition  of  life. 

A  long  strip  of  land,  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa, 
the  Mediterranean  washing  its  shores,  was  to  be  the  scene 
of  great  events.  To  the  Greeks  it  was  the  land  of  mystery 
and  fable,  filled  with  giants  and  monsters.  The  Phoenicians 
founded  Carthage,  which  became  a  ruler  of  the  seas,  and  a 
founder  of  trading  depots  as  far  as  the  Niger  and  the  Bal- 
tic. The  Carthaginians  became  the  rivals  of  Rome  and 
were  conquered  by  them.  The  spoils  of  Carthage  adorned 
the  proud  city  of  Rome.  After  the  decay  of  the  Roman 
power,  the  Vandals  ruled  for  one  hundred  years.  The 
Greeks  then  took  this  land,  to  be  followed  by  an  irruption 
of  Saracens.  Swarms  of  Arabs  came  out  of  Egypt  till  it 
was  ruled  by  the  Caliphs.  These  were  driven  out  by  Musa. 
These  new  conquerors  crossed  over  the  narrow  straits,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  Arabian  dominion  in  Spain.  These 
conquerors  of  Spain,  enriched  by  a  fertile  soil  and  prosper- 
ous commerce,  have  blended  intellectual  culture  with 

*  N.   Y.  Journal. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  37 

Arabian  luxury  and  magnificence.  The  palaces  of  their 
princes  were  splendid,  their  colleges  famous  for  learning, 
their  libraries  were  filled  with  books,  their  agriculture  and 
manufactures  produced  abundance,  when  all  the  rest  of  Eu- 
rope was  buried  in  darkness.  These  enjoyed  peace  for 
three  centuries ;  then  arose  conflicts  between  the  Moors 
and  Spaniards  for  four  centuries.  The  Moor  was  com- 
pelled to  abandon  Spain. 

After  the  fall  of  Grenada,  in  1492,  about  100,000  Spanish 
Moors  crossed  over  to  Africa,  and  took  possession  of  some 
deserted  Roman  towns.  They  spoke  the  same  language 
as  the  people  to  whom  they  went.  These  new  emigrants 
taught  navigation,  and  turned  their  attention  to  naval  affairs*. 
These  Moors  built  row  boats,  and  crossed  the  channel,  and 
plundered  the  Spaniards  at  night,  and  made  them  slaves. 
From  this  sprung  a  system  of  piracy,  that  compelled  the  na- 
tions of  Europe  to  pay  tribute  and  buy  the  freedom  of  the 
captives.  The  order  of  the  Redemption  Brothers  was,  in 
1 1 88,  founded  by  Jean  Matha.  These  went  begging  over 
Europe  for  money  to  redeem  captives  ;  they  took  a  proces- 
sion of  redeemed  captives,  wearing  red  Moorish  caps,  white 
bornouces,  and  chains.  Banners,  wax-candles,  music,  and 
silver  covered  angels  were  in  the  procession.  These,  on 
approaching  a  place,  were  met  by  the  chief  men,  who  col- 
lected for  them.  In  1551,  Brother  Sebastian  established  a 
hospital,  and  it  became  the  residence  of  the  Brothers,  who 
were  the  mediums  of  exchanges.  These  Christian  slaves 
became  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  masons,  rope-makers,  and 
ship-builders.  They  received  one-third  of  their  earnings  for 
their  own  use. 

Says  a  narrative  of  1720,  the  Redemptionists  offered  for 
a  surgeon,  a  father,  and  son  $3,000,  the  Dey  added  a  Luth- 
eran for  $3,500,  the  reluctant  Fathers  were  compelled  to 
5 


38  THE  LABORER; 

take  him.  The  British  Parliament  appropriated  money, 
in  1646,  to  buy  750  captives  at  an  average  of  $190  each. 
In  1631,  from  the  town  of  Baltimore,  Ireland,  237  persons 
were  taken  by  these  pirates. 

England,  in  1621,  made  an  attempt  to  release  the  captives 
by  force,  but  failed.  In  1682,  the  French  tried  to  stop  the 
piracies  by  sending  a  fleet  with  a  newly  invented  mortar,  it 
proved  as  destructive  to  the  French  as  to  their  enemies.  A 
French  fleet,  in  1688,  threw  10,000  bombs  into  the  city  of 
Algiers  and  burnt  it.  Piracy  was  resumed  in  a  few  years. 
In  i8i6,Lord  Exmouth,  with  a  fleet,  destroyed  the  city, re- 
leased 3,000  captives,  and  destroyed  Christian  slavery  for- 
ever. The  Tripolitans  declared  war  against  the  United 
States.  Gen.  Eaton,  the  American  commander,  went  to  an 
exiled  bashaw,  and  got  his  assistance  to  take  Tripoli.  This 
chief,  with  his  wild  tribes,  attacked  the  city  in  the  rear,  and 
Gen.  Eaton  in  the  front  with  warships,  which  resulted  in  a 
treaty,  to  make  no  more  slaves  of  American  seamen.  The 
Americans  also  paid  tribute.  Thos.  Jefferson  writes  from 
Paris  to  John  Jay,  in  1786.  He  says :  "  It  will  take  to  make 
peace,  with  the  Barbary  States,  £250,000." 

These  States  have  been  conquered  by  the  Turks.  The 
Viceroys  sent  there  have  usurped  the  government  into  their 
own  hands.  Algiers  has,  by  conquest,  become  a  colony  of 
France.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  justice  and  natural  kindness 
will  prevail  after  so  many  conquests. 

The  ancients  called  that  part  of  Africa,  lying  along  the 
Mediterranean,  Libya ;  the  interior,  Ethiopia.  It  has  been  a 
land  from  which  slaves  have  been  taken  in  all  ages.  The 
Briton  and  the  African  have  been  fellow-slaves  at  Rome. 
The  first  were  easily  obtained,  the  latter  were  kept  as  nov- 
elties. The  Portuguese  were  the  first  to  steal  negroes,  and 
become  acquainted  with  Africa.  No  part  of  Africa  was 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  39 

known  except  the  countries  on  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Red  Sea.  In  the  year  1412,  the  Portuguese  began  to  sail 
south,  along  the  western  coast.  Each  navigator  got  bolder 
and  went  farther.  Vasco  de  Gama,  in  1497,  rounded  the 
great  cape,  and  sailed  through  the  Mozambique  Channel, 
into  the  open  ocean  for  India.  In  1434,  Antonia  Gon- 
zales  carried  away  some  Guinea  coast  blacks,  and  sold  them 
to  some  Moorish  families  in  the  south  of  Spain.  It  be- 
came customary  for  captains  to  take  from  Guinea  a  few 
young  blacks  of  both  sexes.  Their  labor  was  found  valu- 
able on  the  ships  and  ports  at  home.  These  blacks  were 
sold  to  others.  From  this  it  became  a  regular  traffic,  and 
thousands  were  carried  away  annually.  The  villages  along 
the  African  coast  obtained  them,  and  exchanged  them  for 
beads,  cloths,  and  knives. 

America  was  discovered  in  1492.  The  islands,  between 
the  north  and  south  part,  were  first  colonized  by  the  Span- 
iards, who  made  the  Indians  dig  for  gold,  and  carry  bur- 
dens; they  soon  died.  Labor,  ill  usage,  and  sickness  car- 
ried them  off  by  thousands.  In  1508,  the  natives  numbered 
in  St.  Domingo  60,000.  In  1515,  the  number  was  14,000. 
The  Dominicans  denied  the  right  of  the  Spaniards  to  make 
slaves  of  Indians.  As  early  as  1503,  negroes  were  carried 
across  the  Atlantic.  In  1510,  the  king  of  Spain  sent  fifty 
slaves  to  work  gold  mines.  Charles  V  gave  one  of  his  fa- 
vorites a  right  to  ship  4,000  blacks.  His  monopoly  was 
sold  for  25,000  ducats,  to  some  Genoese  rilerchants,  who, 
when  they  got  started,  carried  more  than  that  number.  In 
Venezuela  there  was  an  insurrection — so  numerous  were 
the  slaves — in  which  six  Spaniards  were  killed. 

In  1562,  Elizabeth  legalized  the  slave-trade.  In  1620, 
a  Dutch  ship  let  some  Virginia  planters  have  some  negroes. 
On  trial  they  proved  good,  and  it  led  the  English  to  engage 


40  THE  LABORER; 

in  the  traffic  of  slaves.  In  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  all  Europe  was  engaged  in  buying  and  selling  men. 
Companies  of  men  would  build  forts,  on  some  part  of  the 
coast,  and  mount  them  with  cannon,  to  protect  from  the 
natives  within,  and  Europeans  without.  Sojdiers,  gunners, 
factors,  clerks,  and  mechanics,  resided  in  the  fort.  The 
stores  had  all  kinds  of  fancy  goods,  to  supply  the  traders. 
Factors  would  go  into  the  interior,  and  set  the  tribes  against 
each  other.  A  looking  glass,  a  string  of  beads,  or  a  few 
yards  of  red  cloth,  to  possess  these  was  the  motive  of  an 
African  for  setting  fire  to  the  villages  of  joining  tribes,  and 
pursuing  the  fleeing  inhabitants,  to  be  carried  into  bondage. 
Black  slave-merchants  tied  the  hands  of  the  captives  to  a 
long  rope.  Ivory  and  other  merchandise  is  fastened  on  the 
slave  to  be  carried  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  ships.  Beaten, 
famished,  sick,  and  feeble,  many  lay  down  to  die.  On 
the  coast  many  died  broken-hearted. 

Life  in  these  forts  was  ease,  indolence,  and  licentiousness. 
Smoking  and  gambling  passed  away  the  time,  of  those 
who  engaged  in  this  shameful  traffic.  On  the  arrival  of 
traders  with  gold  dust  and  ivory,  they  were  supplied  with 
wine  and  brandy ;  under  its  influence  these  products  did  not 
sell  for  much.  "These  slaves  were  obtained  partly  by  the 
sword  and  other  means,  and  exchanged  in  Hispaniola  for 
hides,  ginger,  and  sugar.  Prosperous  were  the  voyages,  and 
brought  great  profit  to  the  adventurers."  * 

The  middle  passage  of  the  African  was  horrible.  Be- 
tween the  decks  of  a  vessel  were  ten  feet :  a  scaffold  was 
between  the  two  floors.  Slaves  could  not  stand  upright; 
and  were  compelled  to  lie  as  close  as  if  they  were  in  their 
coffins.  Revolts  were  prevented  by  chaining  them  together. 
It  often  happened  that  a  living  and  dead  person  were  chained 
*HAKLUYT,  historian  of  SIR  JOHN  HAWKINS'  slave  voyage.  1562. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  41 

together,  death  taking  one  away.  At  times  they  were  taken 
on  the  decks,  and  made  to  dance  with  a  whip.  Some  were 
lost  by  suffocation.  The  acting  of  the  slaves  was  often  like 
that  of  animals,  when  put  into  an  exhausted  air  receiver  ; 
they  gasped  for  breath,  exclaiming/1  We  are  dying."  The 
slaves  took  every  method  to  commit  suicide.  Often  half  of 
them  died  during  the  passage. 

The  brutality  that  was  shown  to  slaves,  was  often  felt  by 
the  seamen.  In  parts  of  the  West  Indies  might  be  seen 
emaciated  and  starving  seamen,  without  hope  or  comfort, 
fearful  examples  of  wrong  doing.  If  a  cabin  boy  broke  a 
glass,  or  a  seaman  was  untidy,  lashes,  blows,  and  kicks  were 
applied.  Sailors  have  often  destroyed  themselves. 

The  beautiful  islands,  that  stretch  along  the  joining  parts 
of  North  and  South  America,  have  been  the  scenes  of 
great  cruelty.  Human  pen  can  not  describe  the  miseries 
that  Africans  have  endured  for  two  centuries.  Acclimation, 
melancholy,  fevers,  and  cruelty  took  them  away.  They 
were  divided  into  mechanics,  house,  field,  and  dock  hands. 
If  the  task  was  not  done  the  slaves  were  flogged.  Sugar 
boiling  caused  the  slave  to  work  eighteen  hours  out  of 
twenty  four.  Slaves  had  land  given  them  to  work  Sundays 
and  Saturday  afternoons.  This  labor  was  to  give  them 
food  for  the  week.  The  whip  was  applied  to  the  bare  skin, 
which  made  scars  and  pools  of  blood.  How  cruel  is  man ! 

This  system  of  cruelty,  by  means  of  the  printer's  skill  was 
made  known  over  England.  Rev.  Morgan  Godwin  was 
the  first  to  write  against  slavery.  Richard  Baxter  protested 
against  the  trade,  and  denounced  as  pirates  those  who  sold 
men.  Dr.  Primate  wrote  on  the  "Duty  of  Mercy,  and 
the  Sin  of  Cruelty/'  In  1735,  Atkins,  in  a  voyage  to  Bra- 
zil and  Guinea,  exposes  the  cruelty  of  slavery.  In  1750, 
Rev.  Griffith  Hughes,  of  Barbadoes,  showed  the  wickedness 


42  THE  LABORER, 

of  slavery.  In  1787,  Adam  Smith  wrote  his  "Theory  of 
Moral  Sentiments."  Said  he :  "  Fortune  never  exerted  more 
cru-elly  her  empire  over  mankind,  than  when  she  subjected 
those  nations  of  heroes  to  the  refuse  of  the  jails  of  Europe, 
to  wretches  who  possess  the  virtues  neither  of  the  countries 
they  came  from,  nor  of  those  they  go  to,  and  whose  levity, 
brutality,  and  baseness  so  justly  expose  them  to  the  con- 
tempt of  the  vanquished."  In  1774,  John  Wesley  wrote 
his  "  Thoughts  on  Slavery." 

Planters,  last  century,  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  their 
slaves  to  England.  These  ran  away,  were  baptized,  think- 
ing that  baptism  made  them  free.  In.  1729,  some  masters 
went  to  the  Solicitor-General  for  his  opinion.  He  said : 
"  Baptism  did  not  change  the  condition  of  slaves."  At  this 
period  the  papers  began  to  advertise  the  sale  of  slaves,  and 
offer  rewards  for  their  arrest  when  they  ran  away. 

In  1765,  David  Lyle  brought  over  Jonathan  Strong  from 
Barbadoes,  as  his  servant.  His  master  struck  him  on  the 
head  with  a  pistol,  which  caused  fever,  lameness,  and  par- 
tial blindness.  This  slave  applied  to  Wm.  Sharp,  a  surgeon, 
who  healed  the  poor  gratuitously,  for  relief  and  was  healed. 
Granville  Sharp,  a  brother  of  the  surgeon,  gave  the  slave 
some  money,  and  got  him  a  place  as  a  messenger  to  a  drug- 
gist. The  master  determined  to  possess  again  his  now  ro- 
bust slave.  He  was  sent  for  to  a  public  house,  here  he  was 
seized  upon,  and  two  officers  took  him  to  prison.  He  was 
there  sold  for  thirty  pounds.  Mr.  Sharp  caused  the  Mayor 
of  London  to  liberate  Strong,  as  he  was  in  prison  with- 
out a  warrant.  Captain  Laird  took  hold  of  Strong  to  take 
him  to  his  ship.  Mr  Sharp  said :  "  I  charge  you  with  an 
assault  on  the  person  of  Jonathan  Strong."  This  fright- 
ened the  Captain,  and  he  let  his  slave  go  free. 

Mr.  Sharp  was  affected  by  this  case,  and  thought  it  time 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  43 

something  should  be  done  for  slaves.  This  slave  would 
have  died ;  he  was  saved  by  a  benevolent  man.  To  return 
him  to  slavery  again,  was  abhorrent  to  the  feelings  of  Gran- 
ville  Sharp.  Mr.  Sharp  devoted  three  years  to  the  study  of 
English  law,  so  that  he  could  advocate  the  cause  of  this 
unhappy  people.  In  1769,  he  gave  the  world  this  book, 
"The  Injustice  and  Dangerous  Tendency  of  Tolerating 
Slavery  in  England." 

James  Somerset,  a  slave,  was  brought  to  England,  in 
1769.  He  left  his  master,  who  recovered  him,  and  sent 
him  to  Jamaica  to  be  sold.  This  question  was  carried  to  a 
court :  "  Whether  a  slave,  by  coming  to  England,  became 
free."  This  question  was  debated  for  three  months.  The 
eloquence  displayed  in  it  by  those  who  were  engaged  on  the 
side  of  liberty  was,  perhaps,  never  exceeded  on  any  occasion. 
The  decision  was,  as  soon  as  ever  any  slave  set  his  foot  on 
English  territory,  he  was  free.  In  1772,  this  trial  occurred. 

Dr.  Peckard,  of  Cambridge  University,  in  1785,  gave  to 
Mr.  Thomas  Clarkson  the  prize  for  the  best  essay  on  this 
theme :  "  Is  it  right  to  make  any  one  a  slave  against  their 
will  ? "  Mr.  Clarkson,  in  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  age, 
resolved  to  try  and  put  an  end  to  slavery.  He  lived  to  the 
2gth  of  August,  1833.  On  that  day  slavery  was  abolished 
throughout  the  British  Colonies.  He  spent  his  time  getting 
knowledge  and  writing  books ;  these  he  gave  to  the  mem- 
bers of  Parliament,  to  show  them  the  evils  of  slavery.  Mr. 
Clarkson  called  on  Wm.  Pitt,  and  showed  him  how  the 
slave-trade  destroyed  the  seamen.  In  the  year  1787,  3170 
sailors  left  Liverpool  to  engage  in  the  slave-trade ;  only  1428 
returned.  Mr.  Clarkson  showed  the  muster-roll  of  every 
ship  and  the  names  of  seamen  who  had  died.  African  cot- 
ton cloth,  leather,  and  iron  were  also  shewn.  Mr.  Pitt  pro- 
mised to  do  something  for  the  African  slaves.  On  the  gth 


44  THE  LABORER; 

of  May,  1 788,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  Mr  Pitt  said :  "He 
intended  to  move  a  resolution  of  more  importance  than  any 
which  had  ever  been  agitated  in  the  house." 

The  amiable  poet,  Cowper,  wrote  fifty-six  lines,  called 
the  "  Negro's  Complaint."  This  did  much  good. 

"  Forced  from  home  and  all  its  pleasures, 

Africa's  coast  I  left  forlorn, 
To  increase  a  stranger's  treasures, 

O'er  the  raging  billows  borne  j 
Why  did  all-creating  Nature 

Make  the  plant,  for  which  we  toil  ? 
Sighs  must  fan  it,  tears  must  water, 

Sweat  of  ours  must  dress  the  soil. 
Think,  ye  masters,  iron  hearted, 

Lolling  at  your  jovial  boards, 
Think,  how  many  backs  have  smarted 

For  the  sweets  your  cane  affords." 

This  plaintive  song  was  printed  on  hot-pressed  paper,  [a 
new  invention  at  that  time,]  and  sent  in  letters  to  the  no- 
bility and  others.  It  was  set  to  music.  Street  ballad  sing- 
ers sung  and  sold  it  all  over  England.  Appropriate  notes 
were  attached,  to  arouse  the  popular  mind  against  slavery. 

Mr.  Wedgewood,  the  great  improver  of  earthen  ware, 
made  a  cameo  of  delicate  white.  In  the  center  was  a  negro, 
in  relief  and  in  his  own  color.  He  was  in  an  imploring 
attitude, saying :  "Am  I  not  a  man  and  a  brother?"  These 
were  sent  all  over  England,  and  were  inserted  into  snuff 
boxes,  bracelets,  and  hair-pins,  to  serve  humanity's  cause. 

For  seven  years  Mr.  Clarkson  corresponded  with  400 
persons,  and  traveled  in  that  time  35,000  miles.  In  Penn- 
sylvania, the  Quakers  became  the  opponents  of  slavery  as 
early  as  1688.  Anthony  Benezet,  in  1762,  wrote  against 
slavery.  He  became  a  school-teacher,  so  that  he  could 
serve  the  cause  of  humanity.  In  1772,  the  House  of 
Burgesses,  of  Virginia,  presented  a  petition  to  the  king  to 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  45 

remove  restraints  on  his  governors  of  that  colony,  which  in- 
hibited their  assent  to  such  laws  as  might  check  the  slave- 
trade.  It  was,  afterward,  made  a  reason  for  separating 
from  the  mother  country. 

Dr.  Benjamin  Rush,  in  1772,  wrote  against  slavery.  His 
publications  were  written  in  a  polished  style,  and  showed 
learning  and  benevolence.  In  1787,  a  society  was  formed 
for  abolishing  slavery.  Dr.  Franklin  was  the  President. 

The  Revolution  opened  the  eyes  of  the  American  people 
to  the  evil  effects  of  slavery.  David  Ramsey  wrote  the 
history  of  this  country,  from  1776  to  1812.  He  says: 
"  Among  the  many  circumstances  which  induced  the  rulers 
of  Great  Britain  to  count  on  an  easy  conquest  of  America, 
the  great  number  of  slaves  had  a  considerable  weight.  On 
the  sea-coast  of  the  five  more  southern  provinces,  the  num- 
ber of  slaves  exceeded  those  of  the  freemen.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  the  offer  of  freedom  would  detach  them  from 
their  masters'  interests,  and  bind  them  by  strong  ties  to  sup- 
port the  royal  standard. 

"  The  mischievous  effects  of  slavery  in  facilitating  the 
conquest  of  the  country,  now  became  apparent.  As  the 
slaves  had  no  interest  at  stake,  the  subjugation  of  the  State 
was  of  no  consequence  to  them.  Instead  of  aiding  in  its 
defense,  they,  by  a  variety  of  means,  threw  the  weight  of 
their  little  influence  into  the  opposite  scale. 

"Slavery  was  particularly  hostile  to  the  education  of 
youth.  Slavery  also  led  to  the  monopoly  of  lands  in  the 
hands  of  the  few.  It  impeded  the  introduction  of  laboring 
freemen  •,  and  at  the  same  time  endangered  internal  tranquil- 
lity, by  multiplying  a  kind  of  inhabitants  who  had  no  interest 
in  the  soil.  The  sea-coast,  which,  from  necessity,  could 
only  be  cultivated  by  the  labor  of  black  men,  was  deficient 
in  many  of  the  enjoyments  of  life,  and  lay  at  the  mercy  of 


46  THE  LABORER; 

every  bold  invader.  The  western  country,  where  cultiva- 
tion was  more  generally  carried  on  by  freemen,  sooner  at- 
tained the  means  of  self-defense  and  the  comforts  of  life. 

"They  were  not  ignorant  that  their  slaves  might  be  work- 
ed on,  by  the  insidious  offers  of  freedom  to  slay  their  masters 
in  the  peaceful  hour  of  domestic  security.  The  hopeless 
Africans,  allured  with  the  hopes  of  freedom,  forsook  their 
owners  and  repaired  in  great  numbers  to  the  royal  army. 
They  endeavored  to  recommend  themselves  to  their  new 
masters,  by  discovering  where  their  owners  had  concealed 
their  property,  and  assisted  to  carry  it  away."  * 

Gen.  P.  Horry,  in  his  life  of  Marion,  says :  "  Now  it  is 
generally  believed  the  British,  after  the  loss  of  Burgoyne 
and  their  fine  northern  army,  would  soon  have  given  up  the 
contest,  had  it  not  been  for  the  foothold  they  got  in  Caro- 
lina, which  protracted  the  war  at  least  two  years. 

"  When  the  war  broke  out  you  heard  of  no  division  in 
New  England ;  no  toryism,  nor  any  of  its  horrid  effects  ;  no 
houses  in  flames  kindled  by  the  hands  of  fellow-citizens;  no 
neighbors  way-laying  their  neighbors  and  shooting  them  and 
carrying  off  their  stock,  and  in  aiding  the  British  in  their 
work  of  American  murder  and  subjugation." 

Hildreth,  the  historian,  says :  u  The  policy  of  Dunmore, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  contest,  of  arming  slaves  against 
their  masters,  had  not  been  persevered  in  by  the  British. 
Neither  in  Virginia  nor  the  Carolinas  had  the  negro  been 
regarded  in  any  other  light  than  as  property  and  plunder. 
The  slaves  carried  off,  from  Virginia  alone,  were  estimated 
at  30,000.  Had  they  been  treated,  not  as  property,  but  as 
men,  and  the  king's  subjects,  and  converted  into  soldiers, 
the  conquest  of  the  Southern  States  would  almost  have 
been  inevitable."  South  Carolina  was  not  able  to  furnish 

*  See  RAMSEY'S  Transactions  in  Virginia,  and  History  of  South  Carolina. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  47 

her  share  of  men  for  public  defense,  "by  reason  of  the 
great  number  of  citizens  necessary  to  remain  at  ho?ne,  to  pre- 
vent insurrection  among  the  negroes,  and  their  desertion  to 
the  enemy."  Virginia  had  105,000  slaves  during  the  Rev- 
olution ;  25,000  were  seduced  from  their  masters.  South 
Carolina  lost  the  same  number,  and  Georgia  4,000.  Lord 
Dunmore,  with  slave  soldiers  that  he  trained,  burned  Nor- 
folk in  Virginia,  to  ashes,  Jan.  13^1776.  Arnold  was  sent 
by  the  British  against  Richmond,  in  Virginia,  which  he  took 
with  900  men,  and  destroyed  the  public  stores.  200,000 
people  in  Virginia  were  made  helpless  by  slaves.  The 
Governor  could  only  get  200  persons  to  attack  this  bold  in- 
vader. The  excuse  was,  slaves  had  to  be  watched.  Slaves 
fortified  Savannah,  and  made  it  impregnable  against  the  at- 
tacks of  Count  D'Estaing  and  Gen.  Lincoln.  Hundreds 
of  Americans  were  slain  in  ditches  dug  by  slaves.* 

An  article  in  Harper's  Magazine,  1864,  "The  burning  of 
Washington,  in  1814,"  says:  "The  5,000  men  that  burned 
the  city  were  composed  of  infantry,  marines,  and  negroes^ 
who  were  bribed  by  promises,  and  forced  by  threats,  to 
enter  the  British  army." 

The  "great  Democratic  party"  has  ever  been  the  bul- 
wark of  slavery ;  the  advocate  of  a  system  of  cruelty  that 
has  made  this  government  the  derision  of  the  world.  Had 
there  been  no  slaves,  the  United  States  would  have  had  no 
wars.  It  was  500,000  slaves,  in  1776,  that  invited  a  for- 
eign army  to  these  shores.  It  was  to  enable  the  South  to 
sell  cotton,  rice,  tobacco,  and  sugar  in  Europe,  that  caused 
the  war  of  1812.  It  was  to  recover  1,500  runaway  slaves 
that  the  Florida  Indians  were  fought.  The  Florida  war 
cost  this  nation  $40,000,000,  and  the  lives  of  4,500  soldiers. 
The  Mexican  war  was  to  favor  slavery,  and  took  thousands 

*See  "History  of  Slavery  "  p.  333.  By  W.  O.  BLAKE,  Columbus,  O.  1857. 


48  THE  LABORER; 

of  lives  and  cost  $60,000,000.  This  war,  and  the  repeal  of 
the  "Missouri  Compromise/'  has  led  to  the  late  unhappy 
war,  the  evil  effects  of  which  will  be  felt  for  a  generation. 

If  this  country  had  been  without  wars,  there  would  have 
been  twice  as  many  cities,  houses,  and  farms.  There  can 
be  no  apology  for  African  slavery.  The  importation  of 
African  slaves  degenerates  the  people  who  receive  them, 
their  manners  become  like  those  of  the  slave.  Slavery,  bru- 
talizes master  and  slaves,  makes  a  people  feeble  in  intellect 
and  resources,  and  incapable  of  self-defense  from  internal 
and  foreign  invasion. 

Look  at  the  condition  of  the  savage ;  he  is  always  on  the 
verge  of  famine.  In  civilized  society  there  is  an  abundance  ; 
it  is  very  unequally  distributed.  Slavery  may  have  been  a 
cause  of  this  abundance.  Queen  Anne,  in  N.  Y.  State  gave 
Van  Rensselaer,  the  right  to  take  a  piece  of  land  containing 
5,000  square  miles,  and  has  now  more  than  300,000  persons 
on  it.  Fulton  had  a  conception  of  a  steamboat,  and  was  too 
poor  to  build  it.  Had  he  asked  any  of  the  farmers  who 
inhabit  this  wide  domain,  for  assistance  he  would  have  got 
none.  He  asked  for  help  of  one  of  the  u  lords  of  a  manor," 
and  with  it  gave  the  world  a  steamboat.  The  sight  of 
wealth  is  a  stimulant  to  invention  and  toil.  As  slavery  has 
passed  away,  the  laborer  should  try  and  get  more  of  earth's 
comforts.  There  is  nothing  in  nature  why  the  laborer,  who 
does  quadruple  work,  should  only  get  single  pay. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HISTORY  OF  THE  LABORING  CLASSES. 

SOCIETY  AFTER  THE  CONQUEST— TRAFFIC  IN  SLAVES— INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIAN- 
ITY— INCREASE  OF  TOWNS  AND  MANUFACTURES — CORPORATE  IMMUNITIES — 
ABSURD  LEGISLATION — OCCUPATION  AND  WAGES  OF  LABORERS. 

"  Man  is  born  free,  yet  he  is  everywhere  in  fetters." — ROUSSEAU. 

IT  must  be  self-evident  to  those  who  will  reason — 
human  society  needs  reconstructing.  This  can  be 
proved  by  the  many  scenes  of  suffering  around  us. 
A  poor  mother  was  found  in  the  railroad  station,  at  Day- 
ton, with  a  dead  child  in  her  arms ;  it  had  died  with  hunger. 
The  parents  and  other  children  were  in  a  starving  con- 
dition for  want  of  food.  In  London  a  woman  went  in  the 
street  to  sell  flowers ;  her  child  died  in  her  arms  for  want  of 
nourishment.  It  is  true  there  is  public  relief,  but  doled 
out  in  small  quantities, and  grudgingly  given;  those  who  ap- 
ply for  it  are  often  rudely  repulsed.  In  a  state  of  nature 
all  things  are  common.  The  Australian  native  does  not 
suffer  like  those  who  live  in  ruder  climes.  The  bill  of  fare 
to  these  natives  is  not  very  scanty.  The  whale,  when  cast 
on  the  shore,  opens  in  the  heart  of  the  discoverer  feelings 
of  hospitality;  he  kindles  a  fire  on  the  beach, which  is  the 
signal  for  his  companions  to  come  and  have  a  feast.  Pieces 
of  whale  are  toasted  on  sticks  before  the  fire.  Eating  and 
sleeping,  singing  and  dancing,  for  days  now  take  place.  A 
hunter  in  civilized  countries  i$  often  a  gentleman,  and  cares 

49 


50  THE  LABORER; 

nothing  for  what  he  kills  ;  it  is  the  sport,  the  appetite  to  eat 
up  other's  food  that  is  wanted.  It  is  with  an  Australian  a 
more  serious  affair .  Hunting  quickens  his  sight  and  hear- 
ing. With  skill  and  patience  he  throws  a  spear  at  an  ani- 
mal, whose  hind  legs  are  twice  as  long  as  his  fore  ones. 
If  killed,  wife  and  children  prepare  and  cook  it.  A  hole  is 
heated  in  the  sand.  When  hot  the  animal  with  his  skin 
on,  is  put  in.  A  fire  on  the  top  cooks  it.  The  women 
dig  and  bake  roots  for  this  feast.  Seals  are  sometimes  sur- 
prised. The  wife  and  children  witness  the  skill  and  activ- 
ity of  the  father ;  he  plays  and  romps  with  his  children  till  the 
seal  is  cooked.  The  Australian  is  very  dextrous  in  feeling 
with  his  toes  for  turtles  in  the  ponds,  and  he  is  skillful  at 
fishing ;  these  are  wrapped  in  grass  and  baked  in  hot  sand. 

The  civilized  man  is  often  in  want  of  food.  Those  who 
possess  the  soil  can  make  all  others  obedient  to  their  will. 
The  Commercial  inquires,  "Why  are  there  bread  riots  in 
England  ?  The  country  is  filled  with  gold,  and  the  nation 
has  an  abundant  harvest.*'  The  reason  is  plain,  the  coun- 
try is  filled  with  machines,  that  do  the  labor;  the  living 
laborer  is  not  wanted.  The  abundance  that  is  made,  feeds 
men  abroad  seeking  for  diamonds,  pearls,  silver,  and  gold. 

The  twentieth  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
Girard  College,  says:  "That  500  pupils  were  educated.  Dif- 
ficulty is  experienced  in  binding  out  pupils  in  accordance 
with  Mr.  Girard's  will,  in  consequence  of  the  breaking  up 
of  the  old  system  of  apprenticeship,  and  the  introduction  of 
machinery  into  trades.  It  is  apprehended  that  in  the  future 
permanent  situations  can  only  be  for  a  few."  Sad  news 
to  be  told  there  are  no  places  for  boys  to  work  in.  It  is 
sadder  still  to  know  that  2,000,000  of  persons  in  this  land, 
have  soil  sufficient  to  keep  200,000,000  in  food.  Much 
of  this  land  is  for  speculationv  to  the  injury  of  poor  boys 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  51 

who  want  homes.  These  boys,  to  get  this  land,will  have  to 
toil  very  hard.  Blackstone  says  :  UA  few  words  on  parch- 
ment does  not  give  the  dominion  of  land."  It  seems  to  be 
the  will  of  Providence  that  a  few  should  monopolize  the  soil, 
to  improve  the  rest.  The  wide  domains  that  Queen  Anne 
gave  to  her  favorites  did  not  belong  to  her.  The  rich  men 
will  pass  away  when  the  laborer  is  intelligent. 

•For  a  long  time  after  the  conquest,  the  Anglo-Saxon  di- 
visions of  society  were  maintained,  and  the  inhabitants  of 
England  were  divided  into  freemen  and  slaves.  Except  the 
great  baronial  proprietors  and  their  free  tenants,  the  rest  of 
the  nation  was  depressed  in  servitude,  which  was  uniform 
in  its  principle.  Those  who  had  fallen  into  bondage  could 
not  acquire  any  right  to  any  species  of  property. 

One  class  of  villains,  or  villagers,  though  bound  to  the 
most  servile  offices  of  rural  industry,  were  permitted  to  oc- 
cupy small  portions  of  land  to  sustain  themselves  and  fam- 
ilies. Other  ranks  of  men,  equally  servile,  are  noticed  in 
the  ancient  records,  particularly  the  bordars  and  the  cottars. 
The  former,  in  consideration  of  being  allowed  a  small  cot- 
tage, were  required  to  provide  poultry,  eggs,  and  other  arti- 
cles of  diet  for  the  lord's  table.  The  latter  were  employed 
as  smiths,  carpenters,  and  other  handicrafts,  in  which  they 
had  been  instructed,  at  the  expense  of  the  lord.  Inferior  to 
these  were  the  thralls,  or  servi,  employed  in  menial  services 
around  the  mansion.  Their  lives  were  protected  by  law. 
With  the  consent  of  their  owners  these  cottars  could  pur- 
chase their  manumission.  In  other  respects  they  were  in 
the  lowest  degradation ;  and  were  to  be  considered  as  mere 
chattels  and  regular  articles  of  commerce. 

Giraldus  says:  "That  so  great  was  the  number  ex- 
ported into  Ireland,  for  sale,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  that 
the  market  was  overstocked.  From  William  I  to  the  time 


52  THE  LABORER; 

of  John,  scarcely  a  cottage  in  Scotland  but  what  possessed 
an  English  slave."  In  the  details  of  the  border  wars,  men- 
tion is  frequently  made  of  the  number  of  slaves  taken  pris- 
oners as  forming  a  principal  part  of  the  booty. 

It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain  from  writers,  the  difference  in 
the  condition  of  the  bondmen.  It  arose,  probably,*  from  the 
utility  of  their  occupations.  The  servi,  or  serfs,  were 
less  valuable  than  cottars  or  bordars,  who  had  been  trained 
to  useful  arts.  All,  however,  alike  have  been  denied  the 
attributes  of  freemen.  The  law  recognised  in  none  the 
uncontrolled  right  to  property,  or  change  of  place,  without 
the  consent  of  the  superior.  The  lord  had  the  absolute 
disposal  of  their  persons,  they  might  be  attached  to  the  soil, 
or  transferred  from  one  owner  to  another ;  in  short,  they 
were  slaves,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word — men  under 
perpetual  servitude,  which  the  master  only  could  dissolve. 

Sharon  Turner  says :  "The  population  of  England,  after 
the  desolation  of  the  Normans,  amounted  to  1,700,000,  or 
near  that  number.  It  is  supposed  that  100,000  persons 
were  swept  away  by  the  Conqueror,  in  laying  waste  the 
country  betwixt  the  Humber  and  the  Tees.  Attempts 
have  been  made  to  class  the  population,  at  the  close  of  the 
the  Anglo-Saxon  period,  into -the  several  proportions  of  no- 
bles, freemen,  and  those  of  servile  condition,  but  with  no 
pretensions  to  accuracy.  In  thirty-four  counties  the  citi- 
zens are  made  to  amount  to  17,100,  the  villains  to  102,700 ; 
the  bordars  to  74,800  ;  the  cottars  to  5,900  ;  the  thralls  or 
serfs  to  26,500.  The  remaining  population  consisted  of 
freemen,  ecclesiastics,  knights,  thanes,  and  land-owners." 

Of  the  domestic  comforts  enjoyed  by  this  class  we  know 
but  little.  It  may  be  presumed  that  from  motives  of  inter- 
est, the  lord  would  supply  his  villain  in  infancy  and  manhood, 
with  the  essential  necessaries  of  life.  It  creates  in  the 


This  full-fed  man  offers  this  little  outcast,  a  street  sweeper,  some  money  to  buy  a 
new  broom.  It  is  to  test  his  honesty,  so  that  he  can  assist  him  to  gain  wealth  and 
ease.  Such  objects  would  never  pain  our  minds,  in  this  wintry  scene,  if  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor  were  sent  to  a  school  of  industry,  and  taught  to  plant,  build,  spin, 
and  weave,  so  that  they  can  cultivate  the  earth,  and  produce  their  food  and  fleece*. 
The  managers  of  "  Girard  College ,"  in  their  report,  say  it  is  difficult  for  them  to 
find  places  for  their  orphans  to  learn  trades;  and  the  cause  of  this  is,  labor  is  done 
by  machinery.  This  fact  proves  that  society  should  do  something  to  promote  the 
happiness  of  those  poor  and  abject  boys,  whose  labor  is  of  no  utility  to  any  person. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  53 

master  the  same  motives  for  rearing  and  preserving  his 
thralls  as  his  cattle — a  tie  dissolved  by  the  laborer  becom- 
ing independent,  and  left  to  his  own  prudence  to  make  a 
provision  for  the  vicissitudes  of  health  and  employment. 

The  work  of  mitigation  and  final  extinction  of  English 
slavery,  was  a  gradual  and  lengthened  operation.  The  first 
blow  the  system  received  was  the  disuse  of  the  practice 
of  converting  war  prisoners  into  bondmen.  The  diffusion 
of  Christianity,  by  teaching  mankind  that  they  were  equal, 
early  awakened  men  to  a  sense  of  the  injustice  of  making 
one  man  the  property  of  another.  Frequently  at  the  interces- 
sion of  confessors,  the  feudal  lords  were  induced  to  enfran- 
chise their  slaves.  In  the  eleventh  century,  the  Pope  for- 
mally issued  a  bull  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  It  was 
declared  at  the  great  council,  in  1 102,  held  at  Westminster, 
unlawful  to  sell  slaves  in  the  open  market. 
.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  slavery  ceased  in 
the  land  with  this  decree.  In  the  Magna  Charta,  and  the 
charter  of  Henry  III,  obtained  in  1225,  a  class  of  men 
are  mentioned,  who  appear  to  have  been  treated  as  chattel 
property.  The  prohibition  to  guardians  from  wasting  the 
men  or  cattle,  on  the  estates  of  minors,  is  a  clear  proof  that 
villains  were  held  by  servile  tenures.*  Long  after  this  pe- 
riod they  were  considered  a  salable  commodity.  Sir  F.Eden 
cites  these  instances  from  ancient  authorities:  "In  1283,  a 
slave  and  his  family  were  sold  by  the  abbot  of  Dunstable, 
for  135.  id.  In  1333,  a  lord  granted  to  a  chantry  several 
messuages,  together  with  the  bodies  of  eight  natives  dwell- 
ing there,  with  all  their  chattels  and  offspring.  In  1339,15 
an  instance  of  a  gift  of  a  nief[a  female  slave,]  with  all  her 
family,  and  all  that  she  might  possess,  and  did  then  own. 
It  was  not  till  the  reign  of  Charles  II,  that  slavery  was 

*VILLAINS-— those  who  lived  in  villages.  BORDARS — cultivators  of  bordage  lands. 


54  THE  LABORER; 

wholly  abolished  by  statute."  So  late  even  as  1775,  the 
colliers  in  Scotland  were  bondmen.  If  they  left  the  ground 
to  which  they  belonged,  and  as  pertaining  to  which  their 
services  were  bought  and  sold,  they  were  liable  to  be 
brought  back  by  summary  procedure  before  a  magistrate. 
This  slavery  was  ended  by  Act  15,  Geo.  Ill  cap.  28. 

Wm.  Howitt,  in  his  "Rural  Life  in  England,"  says:  UA 
person  is  struck,  when  he  enters  Durham,  with  the  sight  of 
bands  of  women  working  in  fields,  under  the  surveillance  of 
a  man.  You  inquire  why  such  regular  bands  of  female  la- 
borers. The  answer  is :  '  Oh,  they  are  the  bondagers.'  Bon- 
dagers  ?  that  is  an  odd  sound  in  England.  What !  have 
we  a  rural  serfdom  still  existing  in  England  ?  Even  so.  It 
is  a  fact.  As  I  cast  my  eyes  on  these  female  bands,  I  was 
reminded  of  the  slave-gangs  of  the  West  Indies." 

Wm.  Cobbett  says:  "The  single  laborers  are  kept  in 
this  manner:  about  four  of  them  are  put  in  a  shed;  which 
shed,  Dr.  Jameson,  in  his  Dictionary,  calls  a  'boothie'  a 
place  where  laboring  servants  are  lodged.  A  boothie  is  a 
little  booth ;  and  here  these  men  live  and  sleep,  having  an 
allowance  of  oat,  barley,  and  peameal,  upon  which  they  live, 
mixing  it  with  milk  or  water.  They  are  allowed  some 
little  matter  of  money  to  buy  clothes  with.  They  hire  for 
the  year,  under  very  severe  punishment  in  case  of  misbeha- 
vior or  quitting  service.  A  new  place  can  not  be  had  without 
a  character  from  the  last  master,  and  also  from  the  minister. 
Upon  a  steam-engine  farm  are  the  married  laborers.  These 
live  in  a  long  shed,  with  stone  walls,  and  divided  into  boo- 
thies.  Each  boothie  is  twenty  feet  square.  In  this  a  man, 
his  wife  and  family  have  to  live.  To  make  the  most  of  the 
room,  berths  are  erected,  which  they  get  up  into  when  they 
go  to  bed ;  and  here  they  are,  a  man,  his  wife,  and  a  parcel 
of  children,  squeezed  up  in  a  miserable  hole,  with  their 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  55 

meal  and  washing-tackle,  and  other  things.  It  is  a  shame 
that  they  are  permitted  to  enjoy  so  small  a  portion  of  the 
fruits  of  all  their  labors.  Their  dwelling  place  is  bad,  their 
food  is  worse,  that  upon  which  horses  and  hogs  are  fed. 

"The  married  man  receives  about  four  pounds  a  year. 
He  also  has  sixty  bushels  of  oats,  thirty  of  barley,  twelve  of 
peas,  and  three  of  potatoes,  and  also  pasture  for  a  cow. 
The  oatmeal  is  made  into  porridge.  The  barley-meal  and 
pea-meal  are  mixed  and  baked  into  cakes.  These  cultiva- 
tors get  no  wheaten  bread,  beef,  or  mutton,  though  the  land 
is  covered  with  wheat  and  cattle.  The  laborer  is  wholly 
at  the  mercy  of  the  master,  who,  if  he  will  not  keep  him 
beyond  the  year,  can  totally  ruin  him,  by  refusing  him  a 
character.  The  necessity  of  a  character  from  the  last  em- 
ployer makes  the  man  a  real  slave,  worse  off  than  the  negro 
by  many  degrees.  The  master  has  no  motive  to  attend  to 
his  health  or  preserve  his  life.  From  daylight  to  dark  these 
people  work.  The  cattle,  sheep,  and  wheat  are  sold.  The 
farmer  gets  a  little  of  the  money,  almost  the  whole  of  it  is 
squandered,  by  the  lord  at  London,  Paris,  and  Rome,  to 
whom  the  laborers  are  slaves,  and  the  farmers  slave-drivers. 
Farm-yards  are  factories  for  making  corn  and  meat." 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  I  the  condition  of  the  villains 
was  so  far  ameliorated,  that  they  were  not  obliged  to  per- 
form every  mean  and  servile  office  that  the  will  of  the  lord 
required.  Tenures  were  acquired  on  lands  on  condition  of 
rendering  certain  services,  such  as  reaping  the  lord's  corn,  or 
cleaning  his  fish-ponds,  harrowing  lands  for  two  days  in  the 
year,  or  carting  the  lord's  timber.  As  early  as  1257,  a  ser- 
vile tenant,  if  employed  before  midsummer,  received  wages, 
and  he  was  permitted,  instead  of  working  himself,  to  pro- 
vide a  laborer  for  the  lord ;  from  which  it  is  evident  he  pos- 
sessed the  means  of  hiring  one.  At  this  period  a  class  of  la- 


56  THE  LABORER  ; 

borers  began  to  exist,  who  were  at  liberty  to  barter  their 
services  to  the  best  bidder.  These  were  important  trans- 
actions, indicating  the  rise  of  a  middle  class  and  indepen- 
dent race  of  workers.  By  granting  to  the  vassals  a  right  to 
property,  they  received  a  stimulus  to  acquire  more ;  and  by 
giving  to  them  a  part  of  the  immunities  of  freemen,  they 
were  raised  one  step  in  the  social  scale,  and  put  in  a  state 
to  contend  and  treat  with  their  oppressors  for  the  remainder. 

While  the  people  were  in  a  state  of  slavery,  it  may  be 
conjectured  that  their  diet  would  be  the  mere  offal  and  re- 
fuse of  their  master ;  and  no  more  than  necessary,  to  en- 
able them  to  support  their  toil.  At  this  period,  the  food  of 
the  laborer  was  principally  fish,  bread,  and  beer.  Mutton 
and  cheese  were  considered  articles  of  luxury,  which  formed 
the  harvest-home  feast. 

Wages  were  a  penny  a  day  at  harvest,  and  a  half-penny 
at  other  times.  Their  habitations  were  without  chimneys, 
and  their  principal  furniture  consisted  of  a  brass  pot,  valued 
at  three  shillings ;  and  a  bed  at  six  shillings. 

The  variations  in  the  prices  of  commodities  were  great, 
owing  to  the  absence  of  middlemen.  The  trade  of  a  corn- 
dealer  was  unknown ;  except  at  the  Abbey-Granges.  The 
natural  consequence  must  have  been,  that  the  farmers  had 
no  capital,  and  disposed  of  their  crops  at  moderate  prices 
soon  after  the  harvest.  Purchasers  who  only  looked  to  im- 
mediate use,  and  having  corn  cheap,  were  usually  improvi- 
dent. As  the  year  advanced,  the  price  frequently  arose 
enormously  before  harvest.  Stowe  relates,  that  in  1317, 
before  harvest  the  supply  of  wheat  was  nearly  exhausted,  the 
price  was  £4.  the  quarter.  After  harvest  it  was  6s.  8d.  A 
reference  to  the  table  of  wages  and  the  price  of  food  tells 
of  the  misery  of  the  times. 

The  progress  of  manufacturing  industry,  and  town  pop- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  57 

ulation  operated  favorably  on  the  condition  of  the  working 
classes.  The  woolen  manufacture  had  been  known  as 
early  as  the  Conquest,  and,  for  greater  security  during  a  bar- 
barous age,  had  been  chiefly  established  in  boroughs  and 
cities.  It  was  at  first  carried  on  by  the  Flemings.  The 
privileges,  conferred  by  the  sovereign,  on  weavers,  fullers, 
and  clothiers,  in  allowing  them  to  carry  on  their  trades  in 
walled  towns,  and  form  themselves  into  guilds  and  compa- 
nies, governed  by  corporate  laws,  were  not  more  intended 
for  the  advancement  of  their  art,  than  to  protect  their  per- 
sons from  popular  outrage,  and  their  property  from  depre- 
dation. Such  was  the  want  of  police  during  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  that  robbers  formed  themselves 
into  bands,  under  powerful  barons,  who  employed  them  in 
acts  of  violence  and  plunder,  and  justified  their  conduct, 
and  partook  of  their  booty.  The  king's  retinue  was  often 
beset  and  pillaged  by  banditti.  Towns,  during  the  fairs, 
were  assaulted  and  ransacked,  and  men  of  rank  carried  off 
and  confined  in  the  castle  of  some  lawless  chieftain,  till 
their  ransom  was  paid.  In  so  general  a  state  of  insecurity  it 
was  impossible  that  the  pursuits  of  agriculture  should  thrive 
without  special  protection.  The  immunities  granted  to 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  to  make  laws,  to  raise  troops 
for  their  own  defense,  enabled  them  to  taste  the  blessings 
of  order  and  protection,  and  enrich  themselves,  while  the 
occupiers  of  land  were  languishing  in  poverty  and  servitude. 
The  superior  comforts  enjoyed  in  towns,  no  doubt,  inspired 
the  dependents  of  a  manor  with  ideas  of  emancipation 
from  a  state  in  which  they  could  scarcely  obtain  the  com- 
forts of  life.* 

If  in  the  hands  of  a  poor  cultivator,  oppressed  with  the 
services  of  villainage,  some  little  stock  should  accumulate, 

*Sir  F.  EDEN'S  State  of  the  poor,  vol.   I   p   1 8. 


58  THE  LABORER; 

he  would  naturally  conceal  it  from  his  master,  by  whom  it 
would  be  claimed,  and  take  the  first  opportunity  to  escape 
to  a  town.  The  law  was  indulgent  to  the  inhabitants  of 
towns,  and  so  favorable  to  diminishing  the  authority  of  the 
lord,  over  those  in  the  country,  that  if  a  vassal  should  con- 
ceal himself  from  the  pursuit  of  his  lord  for  one  year  he 
was  free  forever. 

By  the  demand  for  manufactures,  a  large  number  of  vil- 
lains were  converted  into  free  laborers.  The  number  was 
increased,  during  the  long  wars  of  Edward  III,  in  France, 
which  must  have  obliged  him  to  give  freedom  to  many  of 
his  villains,  to  recruit  his  exhausted  armies.  The  legisla- 
tion of  1350,  gives  us  this  fact,  that  those  who  worked  at 
husbandry  and  the  loom  worked  for  hire. 

In  1344,  a  terrible  pestilence  prevailed,  labor  became  ex- 
tremely dear.  A  proclamation  was  issued  to  fix  the  price 
of  labor.  "The  Statute  of  Laborers"  was  enacted  to  en- 
force it,  by  fines.  The  statute  says,  since  the  pestilence  no 
person  would  serve  unless  allowed  double  wages,  to  the  de- 
triment of  the  lords  and  commons.  It  provides  that  in  fu- 
ture plowmen,  carters,  shepherds,  swineherds,  and  other 
servants  shall  receive  such  liveries  and  wages  as  they  re- 
ceived in  the  twentieth  year  of  the  king's  reign.  If  paid  in 
wheat  it  was  to  be  tenpence  a  bushel.  Hay-makers  and 
weeders  were  to  be  paid  a  penny  a  day ;  mowers  were  to 
receive  fivepence  a  day ;  reapers  twopence  a  day,  without 
diet.  Laborers  were  enjoined  to  carry  their  implements  of 
industry  in  their  hands  to  the  market  towns,  in  a  public 
place,  to  be  hired. 

This  unjust  interference  with  the  freedom  of  industry 
was  repeatedly  confirmed  by  succeeding  parliaments.  A  law 
of  1363,  regulated  the  diet  and  apparel  of  laborers;  and 
that  of  1388,  which  prohibits  servants  from  removing  from 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  59 

one  place  to  another;  and  finally,  to  conclude  these  oppres- 
sive enactments,  justices  of  peace  were  to  fix  the  price  of 
labor  every  Easter.  The  statute  of  1363,  directs  that  arti- 
ficers, servants,  and  laborers,  shall  be  served  once  a  day, 
with  meat  and  fish,  or  the  waste  of  other  victuals,  as  milk 
and  cheese,  according  to  their  station.  The  cloth  of  yeo- 
men and  tradesmen,  was  not  to  cost  more  than  one  shilling 
and  sixpence  a  yard.  Plowmen  and  other  farm  hands  were 
to  use  only  black  russet,  at  twelve  pence  a  yard.  Clothiers 
were  to  make  and  keep  a  sufficiency  on  hand. 

One  important  fact  may  be  elicited :  the  laborers  had  ex- 
tricated themselves  from  the  grasp  of  their  feudal  masters, 
who  were  compelled  to  resort  to  acts  of  parliament  to  get 
power  to  compel  servitude.  Law  was  in  place  of  arbitrary 
power.  Before  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  freedom, 
order,  and  industry,  had  made  considerable  progress.  The 
mass  of  the  people,  when  contrasted  with  those  of  the  Con- 
quest, were  rich  and  thriving.  Historians  are  silent  on 
many  points — there  is  evidence  that  domestic  happiness  was 
greatly  improved.  The  immunities  granted  to  cities,  the 
introduction  of  manufactures,  the  dawning  of  the  polite 
arts,  the  humanizing  tendency  of  Christianity,  are  causes 
which  have  ameliorated  the  condition  of  the  community. 

It  is  to  these  that  we  may  ascribe  the  changes  in  the  po- 
litical opinions  of  the  laboring  classes.  Wat  Tyler,  in  the 
year  1381,  required  of  the  king  abolition  of  slavery;  free- 
dom of  commerce  in  market  towns,  without  toll  or  impost, 
and  a  fixed  rent  on  lands  instead  of  services  by  villainage. 

"These  requests,"  says  Mr.  Hume,  "though  extreme- 
ly reasonable  in  themselves,  the  nation  was  not  prepared  to 
receive,  and  which  it  were  dangerous  to  have  yielded  to  in- 
timidations, were  however  complied  with.  Charters  of 
manumission  were  granted,  and  although  they  were  revoked 


60  THE  LABORER; 

after  the  rebellion  was  crushed — many  hundreds  of  the 
insurgents  were  executed  as  traitors.  The  spirit  that  man- 
ifested itself  during  this  period,  prevented  masters  from  inv 
posing,  and  vassals  from  again  submitting,  to  the  oppressive 
service  of  bondage." 

Various  causes  changed  the  villains  into  free  laborers, 
and  created  tenantry,  who  were  strengthened  by  manufac- 
tures and  commerce.  At  the  Conquest,  most  of  the  lands 
in  England  were  parceled  out  among  the  Norman  nobility. 
Earl  Morton  acquired  no  less  than  193  manors;  and  Hugh 
de  Alrinces  received  the  whole  palatinate  of  Chester.  The 
extensive  county  of  Norfolk  had  only  sixty  proprietors. 
The  owners  of  such  vast  possessions  lived  on  their  estates. 
Earl  Spencer,  in  the  time  of  Edward  II,  possessed  1,000 
oxen,  28,000  sheep,  1,200  cows,  500  cart  horses,  2,000 
hogs,  and  of  salted  provisions  600  bacons,  80  beef  carcasses, 
600  sheep,  and  also  ten  tuns  of  cider.  This  nobleman's 
estate  was  probably  managed  by  stewards,  and  cultivated  by 
the  labor  of  villains  or  slaves.  This  was  spent  in  rude  and 
riotous  hospitality.  Commerce  at  length  led  to  allurements 
of  a  different  kind,  and  induced  him,  from  motives  of  per- 
sonal gratification,  to  lessen  the  number  of  his  idle  retainers 
and  to  grant  a  portion  of  his  demesnes  to  a  tenant,  on  con- 
dition of  receiving  a  rent,  which  might  enable  him  to  ex- 
tend his  pursuits  beyond  gorgeous  entertainments,  field 
pleasures,  or  domestic  warfare. 

The  progress  of  manufactures  led  to  a  revolution  among 
land-owners  and  other  ranks  of  community.  Instead  of 
fortunes  being  spent  in  supporting  numerous  idlers,  it  was 
expended  in  the  production  of  art.  Dr.  Smith,  the  author 
of  the  "  Wealth  of  Nations,"  says :  "For  a  pair  of  diamond 
buckles,  or  something  as  frivolous,  they  exchanged  the 
maintenance  of  a  thousand  men  for  a  year."  It  is  to  more 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  61 

rational  causes  this  change  may  be  attributed.  The  desire 
of  bettering  our  condition  is  the  parent  of  many  virtues  ;  it 
would  compel  the  lord  to  prefer  comfort  to  barbaric  splen- 
dor, and  the  villain  to  engage  in  the  independence  of  trade. 
These  changes  produced  advantages  for  the  general  good. 
A  man,  by  dismissing  half  of  his  useless  domestics,  increases 
his  enjoyments ;  he  could  clothe  himself  in  woolen  and  fine 
linen  instead  of  coarse  canvass  and  a  leathern  jerkin.  It 
would  add  the  production  of  horticulture  to  his  table,  and 
would  render  a  dreary  castle  more  comfortable  with  warm 
hangings  on  the  bare  walls. 

In  1406,  we  have  evidence,  competition  commenced  be- 
tween rural  and  town  industry.  A  statute  had  been  passed 
compelling  those  who  had  been  brought  up  to  the  plow 
till  they  were  twelve  years  of  age,  to  continue  at  husbandry 
all  their  lives.  To  evade  this  law  agricultural  laborers  sent 
their  children  to  the  town,  as  apprentices  under  that  age. 
It  was  enacted  that  no  person,  unless  possessed  of  land  of 
a  rental  of  twenty  shillings,  should  bind  a  child  to  any  trade, 
except  that  of  the  parents. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  the  race  of  villains  was  al- 
most extinct.  The  useful  arts  had  made  a  wonderful  prog- 
ress. In  the  statute  of  laborers  for  1496,  bricklayers  are 
for  the  first  time  mentioned  as  artificers,  and  also  gla- 
ziers. In  1567,  glass  was  a  rarity,  only  in  castles.  It  was 
used  for  farm  houses  in  the  time  of  James  I. 

The  diet  of  laborers  at  this  period  had  become  whole- 
some by  the  introduction  of  vegetables.  Their  dress  was 
simple,  the  hat  and  hose  were  made  of  cloth,  the  coat  was 
fastened  on  with  a  belt.  Laws  were  in  force  regulating 
the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  wearing  apparel.  A  statute 
of  Richard  III  limited  the  price  of  a  hat  to  twenty  pence. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  it  was  enacted  that  no  serving 

7 


62  THE  LABORER; 

man,  under  the  degree  of  a  gentleman,  should  wear  a  coat 
containing  more  than  three  broad  yards,  under  forfeiture. 
The  cloth  was  not  to  exceed  twenty-pence  a  yard.  The 
statute  of  1496,  fixed  the  rate  of  yearly  wages.  A  shepherd 
was  to  receive  £i.  A  common  farm  servant's  wages  was 
1 6s.  The  yearly  allowance  for  his  clothing  was  55.  A 
woman  received  for  a  year  ics,  and  45.  for  her  clothing. 
Artificers  received  6d.,  and  a  laborer  4d.  a  day,  and  no  food. 
In  harvest  id.  a  day  more  was  paid.  The  food  was  2d.  a 
day.  Yearly  laborers  received  food.  If  any  person  re- 
fused serving  at  these  wages  he  might  be  imprisoned. 

The  statute  said  the  hours  of  labor  should  be  from  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning  to  seven  at  evening,  from  March 
to  September.  One  hour  shall  be  allowed  for  breakfast. 
An  hour  for  dinner,  and  half  an  hour  to  sleep.  In  winter, 
the  hours  of  labor  were  from  ''springing  of  day"  till  dark. 
The  diet  of  the  artisan  was  one-third  of  his  income,  and 
one-half  of  the  laborer's.  The  rewards  and  relaxation  from 
labor  are  the  same  to  the  English  laborer  now  as  they 
were  in  1514. 

Erasmus  says:  "The  dwellings  of  the  common  people, 
had  not  yet  attained  to  the  convenience  of  a  chimney,  to 
let  off  the  smoke,  the  flooring  of  their  huts  was  nothing  but 
the  bare  ground ;  their  beds  consisted  of  straw,  with  a 
block  of  wood  for  a  pillow."  Fortesque,  who  wrote  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VI  says  of  the  French  peasantry,  "Thay 
drink  water,  thay  eate  apples,  with  right  brown  bread  made 
of  rye ;  thay  eate  flesch,  but  it  be  seldom ;  a  little  larde,  or 
of  the  entrails,  or  of  the  heds  of  beasts,  sclayne  for  the  no- 
bles or  merchaunts  of  the  lond." 

At  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VII,  originated  that 
class  denominated  the  poor — those  who  are  free,  but  with- 
out the  means  of  supporting  themselves  by  their  industry. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  63 

Individuals  in  this  unhappy  condition  are  in  a  state  of  slav- 
ery. Those  who  can  not  live  independently  of  the  support 
of  others  can  not,  in  the  affairs  of  life,  act  the  part  of  free- 
men. The  great  mass  of  English  poor  is  nothing  more 
than  the  continuance,  under  a  mitigated  form,  of  the  race  of 
villains,  who  have  exchanged  baronial  for  parochal  servitude. 

With  the  feudal  system,  a  regular  chain  of  subordination 
subsisted  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest.  All  thought  of 
personal  independence  was  precluded,  and  each  individual 
looked  for  maintenance  and  protection  to  his  next  superior. 

A  cause  may  be  assigned  for  the  contrast  presented  be- 
tween rural  and  civic  industry.  In  the  country,  laborers 
are  often  hired  by  the  year.  They  are  guaranteed  against 
all  casualties.  Their  remuneration  does  not  depend  on 
wages — they  have  the  produce  of  a  garden.  These  are  not 
expose^  to  those  temptations  of  pleasure  and  irregular  life, 
which  are  among  the  many  causes  of  extreme  wretchedness 
in  towns. 

The  extension  of  commerce  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the 
poor.  It  is  an  evil  inseparable  from  commerce — that  it 
augments  population,  without  providing  a  permanent  sub- 
sistence for  the  people.  The  employments  that  spring  from 
commerce  must  always  be  liable  to  variations.  The  in- 
ventions of  machinery,  or  the  ever-changing  fashions,  often 
take  away  work.  Unless  there  be  some  certain  provision 
for  the  people,  independent  of  these  fluctuations,  there  must 
be  great  distress,  and  numbers  must  perish. 

In  the  year  1376,  we  have  evidence  that  there  was  a  dis- 
position to  vagrancy  among  laborers.  It  was  a  complaint 
that  masters  were  obliged  to  give  their  servants  high  wages, 
to  prevent  them  from  running  away  ;  that  many  of  the 
runaways  turn  beggars,  and  lead  idle  lives  in  cities  and 
boroughs,  although  they  have  sufficient  bodily  strength  to 


64  THE  LABORER  ; 

gain  a  livelihood,  if  willing  to  work ;  that  others  become 
staff-strikers,  wandering  in  parties  from  village  to  village, 
but  that  the  chief  part  turn  out  sturdy  rogues,  infesting  the 
kingdom  with  frequent  robberies.  To  remedy  these  evils, 
the  Commons  proposed  that  no  relief  shall  be  given ;  that 
vagrants,  beggars,  and  staff-strikers  ^cudgel-player  i\^  shall  be 
imprisoned  till  they  consent  to  return  home  to  work,  and 
whosoever  harbors  a  runaway  servant  shall  be  liable  to  a 
penalty  of  ten  pounds.  This  is  the  first  time  beggars  are 
mentioned ;  it  shows  the  earliest  opinion  of  the  Commons 
on  mendicity.  These  persons  were  chiefly  found  in  towns 
where,  owing:  to  commerce  and  the  introduction  of  manu- 

'  O 

factures,  the  principal  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  nation 
accumulated. 

In  1388,  it  was  enacted  that  those  who,  by  lameness  or 
sickness,  could  do  no  work,  had  a  legal  claim  on  the  rev- 
enues of  the  clergy.  In  1391,  an  act  was  passed  that  a 
part  of  the  tithes  for  the  support  of  monasteries  should  be 
set  apart  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor.  These  regula- 
lations  laid  the  foundation  of  the  English  system  of  poor 
laws.  For  two  centuries  before  the  Reformation,  the  leg- 
islature struggled  against  the  evil  which  accompanied  the 
transition  from  slavery  to  free  labor,  and  their  policy  was 
directed  to  objects  similar  to  those  which  now  engage 
the  attention  of  law  makers,  to  analyze  the  mass  of  vaga- 
bondage, imposture,  and  real  destitution.  To  punish  the 
former  and  relieve  the  latter,  branding,  whipping,  imprison- 
ment, and  sitting  in  the  stocks,  were  employed.  Scholars 
were  liable  to  these  penalties,  unless  provided  with  written 
testimonials  from  the  chancellor  of  their  university.  Sail- 
ors, soldiers,  and  travelers  were  also  provided  with  pass- 
ports to  travel  homeward  by  the  shortest  road.  Artificers 
and  laborers  were  forbidden  to  play  at  unlawful  games,  ex- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  65 

cept  on  Christmas.  Two  justices  were  empowered  to  re- 
strain the  common  selling  of  ale  in  towns  and  places  where 
they  should  deem  it  expedient,  and  to  take  surety  of  the 
ale-house  keepers  for  their  good  behavior. 

In  1530,  beggars  got  license  to  beg  within  certain  limits. 
Their  names  were  registered  if  found  without  license,  or 
beyond  the  assigned  limits.  The  offender  was  fed  on  bread 
and  water  in  the  stocks  for  two  days.  Able-bodied  men 
found  begging,  were  flogged,  and  made  go  to  labor. 

An  act  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII  made  it  obligatory  on 
the  head  officer  and  householder  of  every  parish  to  main- 
tain, by  collection  of  voluntary  and  charitable  alms,  for  the 
poor  of  the  parish  in  such  a  way,  that  "none  of  them  of 
very  necessity  foe  compelled  to  go  openly  on  begging,"  the 
alms  to  be  collected  Sundays,  holidays  and  festivals.  The 
ministers  in  their  sermons,  collations,  confessions,  and  at 
the  making  of  wills,  are  required  to  "exhort,  move,  stir,  and 
provoke  the  people  to  be  liberal  in  their  contributions  tow- 
ard the  comfort  and  relief  of  the  impotent,  decrepid,  and 
needy  poor."  Some  of  the  poor  are  directed  to  go  round 
twice  a  week,  and  collect  from  each  householder  his  bro- 
ken and  refuse  meat  and  drink,  for  equal  distribution  among 
the  indigent.  Precautions  were  taken  by  fines  and  penal- 
ties to  guard  against  embezzlement  the  parochial  alms  and 
doles,  from  constables  and  churchwardens. 

The  Reformation  affected  property  more  than  industry. 
It  was  the  transfer  of  a  large  portion  of  the  English  soil  to 
laymen  from  spiritual  corporations. .  That  there  was  a  ne- 
cessity for  it  may  be  inferred  from  the  Mortmain  Act,  passed 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  II,  "That  government  had  become 
fully  sensible  of  the  hurtful  tendency  of  the  vast  accumula- 
tions of  the  religious  houses."  It  was  this  transfer  that 
made  England  take  the  lead  of  the  nations  of  Europe  in 


66  THE  LABORER; 

wealth  and  intelligence.  Had  the  vast  possessions  of  the 
clergy  remained  in  their  hands,  they  must  have  formed  an 
obstacle  to  the  productive  power  of  the  country.  The  re- 
venue used  by  the  priesthood  can  not  clearly  now  be  ascer- 
tained. The  number  of  religious  houses  were  1,041,  and 
the  revenues  were  near  .£273,106.  Tithes  are  supposed  to 
be  twice  that  sum.  Upon  good  authority  it  is  stated  the 
clergy  owned  seven-tenths  of  the  whole  kingdom.  There 
were  four  orders  of  mendicants  to  be  maintained,  against 
whom  no  gate  could  be  shut,  to  whom  no  provision  could 
be  denied,  or  secret  concealed. 

Henry  VIII,  to  obtain  the  consent  of  parliament  to  his 
spoliations,  declared  that  the  revenues  of  the  abbeys  should 
be  applied  to  the  expenses  of  the  state,  and  JIG  loans,  subsi- 
dies, or  other  aids  be  asked.  The  chief  portion  of  these  ben- 
efices were  given  to  the  nobility.  Sir  F.  Eden  doubts  if 
the  monasteries  gave  themselves  any  trouble  with  the  poor, 
that  did  not  belong  to  their  own  demesnes.  The  abbeys 
were  burdened  with  the  rich  more  than  the  poor.  Sheriffs 
and  other  great  men  traveled  from  abbey  to  abbey,  with 
great  retinues,  regaling  themselves  at  each  and  exacting 
presents.  Laws  were  made  to  make  abbeys  keep  the  poor. 

It  has  been  computed  that  50,000  monks  were  thrown 
on  society  during  the  Reformation.  Edward  VI  punished 
"idleness  and  vagabondries,"  by  enacting  "That  any  per- 
son who  refuses  to  labor,  and  lives  idly  for  three  days,  he 
shall  be  branded  with  a  redhot  iron  on  the  breast,  with  the 
letter  V,  and  be  adjudged  a  slave  for  two  years  to  the  per- 
son who  informed  on  him.  And  the  master  is  directed  to 
find  his  slave  with  bread  and  water,  in  small  drink,  and  re- 
fuse meat  as  he  thinks  proper;  and  to  cause  his  slave  to 
work  by  beating  or  chaining  him.  If  the  slave  absconds  for 
fourteen  days  he  is  a  slave  for  life ;  and  if  he  runs  away  a 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  67 

second  time  he  shall  suffer  death."  These  laws  were  found 
too  severe  and  abolished.  The  statute  provided  that  certain 
of  the  poor  shall  be  employed  by  the  town. 

In  pursuing  the  various  occupations  of  industry,  the 
people  had  discovered  the  means  of  emancipating  themselves 
from  feudal  servitude}  and  the  nobility,  preferred  the  arts 
to  baronial  splendor,  which  was  the  source  of  idleness  and 
disorder.  Personal  authority  was  exchanged  for  luxury  and 
comfort.  Their  influence  over  their  dependants  wasted 
away,  and  was  still  made  weaker  by  civil  wars.  So  many 
ancient  families  were  sacrified  in  civil  contest,  that  Henry 
VII  could  only  get  twenty-eight  peers  to  his  first  parliament. 
The  dissolution  of  monasteries  destroyed  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority, and  removed  obstacles  to  progressive  industry  and 
a  middle  rank,  whose  condition  it  is  to  be  hoped  will  be 
enjoyed  by  all.  Hume  says:  "In  the  interval  between 
the  fall  of  the  nobles  and  the  rise  of  this  order,  many  of 
the  monarchs  assumed  an  authority  almost  absolute." 

The  police  of  the  country  was  defective,  and  did  not  at- 
tain to  perfect  order.  Punishment  was  not  lenient,  it  was 
vigorous  and  unrelenting.  Harrison  says  that  Henry  VIII 
executed  his  laws  with  such  severity,  that  72,000  "great 
and  petty  thieves  were  put  to  death."  He  adds,  in  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  "rogues  were  trussed  up  apace.  Commonly 
in  one  year,  300  or  400  of  them  were  eaten  up  by  the  gal- 
lows in  one  place  and  another."  These  punishments  did 
not  prevent  robbers,  sometimes  as  many  as  300  together, 
from  plundering  dwellings  and  sheepfolds.  These  outrages 
are  attributed  to  the  changes  in  society,  the  uninstructed 
condition  of  the  laborer. 

Schools  were  rare.  Young  men  were  taught  in  monas- 
teries, the  women  in  nunneries,  in  writing,  drawing,  confec- 
tionery, and  needle  work.  Domestic  manners  were  se- 


68  THE  LABORER; 

vere  and  formal ;  a  haughty  reserve  was  affected  by  the 
old,  and  an  abject  deference  by  the  young.  Some,  when 
arrived  at  manhood,  are  represented  as  standing  uncovered 
and  silent  in  their  father's  presence;  and  daughters  were 
not  permitted  to  sit  before  their  mothers,  but  must  kneel 
till  she  retired.  Omissions  were  punished  with  stripes  and 
blows,  to  such  an  excess,  that  the  daughters  trembled  at 
the  sight  of  their  mother,  and  the  sons  avoided  their  father. 

The  diet  of  the  people  appears  not  to  have  differed  from 
the  present  time.  In  cities  meat  was  consumed.  The  food 
of  laborers,  in  time  of  Henry  VIII,  was  a  small  quantity 
of  bacon,  and  it  is  probable  they  lived  much  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  husbandmen  in  Scotland,  their  food  consist- 
ing of  oat  and  rye  bread,  milk,  and  pottage.  The  substan- 
tial diet  of  the  sixteenth  century  was  limited  to  the  tables 
of  persons  of  rank.  A  maid  of  honor  of  Elizabeth's  court 
perhaps  breakfasted  on  beefsteak,  but  the  plowman  was 
compelled  to  regale  himself  on  barley  or  rye  bread  and 
-water  gruel.  Morrison  says  :  "  Husbandmen  weare  gar- 
ments of  coarce  cloth  made  at  home,  and  their  wives  weave 
gowns  of  the  same  cloth,  kirtles  of  light  stuffe  with  linnen 
aprons,  and  cover  their  heads  with  a  felt  hat,  their  linnen  is 
coarce  and  made  at  home." 

In  1597,  Elizabeth  directed  that  four  overseers  be  chosen, 
to  set  poor  children  to  work  and  others  wanting  it.  The 
church  wardens  were  to  build  houses  on  the  waste,  and  put 
poor  people  in  them.  James  of  Scotland  had  an  act  passed, 
that  "Hail  inhabitants  shall  be  taxed  and  s tented  on  their 
substance,  to  keep  poor  people."  These  acts  were  passed 
in  Elizabeth's  reign.  Profaneness  and  immorality,  neglect- 
ing to  go  to  church,  and  not  wearing  a  woolen  cap  on  Sun- 
day, were  finable  offenses,  and  the  money  was  given  to  the 
•poor.  A  curious  act  was  also  passed:  "No  cottage  shall 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  69 

be  erected  unless  it  had  attached  to  it  four  acres  of  land."  A 
special  commission  from  Charles  I,  was  issued  to  enforce 
this  statute.  In  1495,  a  laborer  working  a  certain  amount 
of  time,  could  purchase  with  his  wages  199  pints  of  wheat ; 
in  1593,  tne  same  time  an^  labor  would  only  purchase  82 
pints  of  wheat;  in  1610  the  same  time  and  labor  only  pur- 
chased 46  pints.  The  increase  of  indigence  increased  crime. 
A  magistrate,  in  Somersetshire,  in  1596,  affirms  that  u  Forty 
persons  were  executed,  thirty-three  burnt  in  the  hand,  and 
thirty-seven  were  whipped  in  one  year."  James  I  enacted 
"That  dangerous  rogues  shall  be  branded  with  the  letter  R 
with  a  redhot  iron  and  placed  to  labor ;  if  afterwards  found 
begging  they  shall  suffer  death."  In  1610,  Parliament  gave 
to  magistrates  the  power  of  rating  the  wages  of  the  working 
people.  They  were  to  take  notice  of  those  who  "  Goe  in 
good  clothes  and  fare  well,  and  none  knowes  where  they 
live  ;  those  that  be  night  walkers."  They  were  to  enforce 
the  laws  that  required  poor  children  to  learn  trades.  A 
wandering  family  were  required  to  tell  when  married,  and  if 
the  children  had  been  christened;  u For  these  people  live 
like  salvages,  neither  marry,  nor  christen ;  which  licentious 
libertie,  make  so  many  delight  to  be  rogues  and  wanderers." 
At  this  time  a  proclamation  came  out  to  the  nobility  and 
gentry,  to  take  no  suppers  on  Fridays,  fast  days,  Lent,  or 
Ember  week,  and  the  meat  that  was  saved  was  to  be  given 
to  the  poor.  In  1697  John  Locke  expressed  an  opinion 
that  many  who  got  public  relief  could  work,  and  that  work- 
schools  should  be  started  for  destitute  children,  the  boys  to 
have  trades,  and  the  girls  to  be  prepared  for  service.  In 
1714,  John  Bellars  proposed" The  College  of  Industry," 
for  the  poor.  This  writer  said :  "The  poor  without  employ- 
ment were  like  rough  diamonds,  their  worth  is  unknown." 
In  1723,  at  Hanslope  it  was  found  that  if  houses  were  pro- 


70  THE  LABORER; 

vided,  a  poor  person  could  be  kept  for  is.  6d.  per  week. 
In  1758,  Mr.  Massie  said  the  poor  were  increased  by  tak- 
ing away  the  "  commons,"  by  removing  the  people  from 
farming  to  the  fluctuating  demands  of  trade  and  manufac- 
ture. In  1760,  Dr.  Adam  Smith  states  that  half  of  the 
people  of  England  do  not  eat  wheat  bread,  they  use  as  a 
substitute  rye,  oats,  and  barley.  In  1768,  it  was  enacted 
that  tailors  should  work,  from  six  in  the  morning  to  seven 
o'clock  at  night,  one  hour  allowed  for  meals,  their  wages  was 
not  to  exceed  2s.  7jd.  a  day.  In  1796,  Mr  Whitbread  in 
Parliament  said:  "In  most  parts  of  the  country  the  laborer 
had  been  long  struggling  with  increasing  misery,  till  the 
pressure  was  too  great  to  be  endured."  Mr.  Pitt  replied 
"That  the  condition  of  the  poor  was  cruel,  and,  as  such 
could  not  be  wished  on  any  principle  of  humanity  or  policy." 

In  1807,  the  population  of  England  and  Wales  numbered 
8,870,000;  not  less  than  1,234,000  persons  were  partakers 
of  public  relief.  In  1818  infant  schools  were  established 
by  Brougham,  Macauley,  Sir  T.  Baring,  Lord  Dacre,  and 
the  Marquis  of  Landsdown.  The  motive  for  instruction 
"  was  to  keep  them  from  vice  and  mischief  and  give  them 
the  rudiments  of  virtue  and  knowledge." 

Lord  Brougham  ascertained  that  one-third  of  the  English 
children  had  no  learning.  In  Parliament  he  exposed  the 
abuses  of  school  endowments  from  good  people.  A  clergy- 
man was  at  the  head  of  a  school,  and  received  .£900  and 
had  only  one  scholar.  Another  school  yielded  £500,  and 
had  no  scholars ;  the  school-room  was  rented  for  a  sawpit. 
This  nobleman  has  been  the  means  of  millions  of  the  poor, 
obtaining  an  education.  He  began  the  cause  of  universal 
instruction  in  1816.  In  1823,  Parliament  sent  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope  350  persons,  and  586  to  Canada  as  an  ex- 
periment for  unemployed  poor.  At  this  period  Mechanic's 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  71 

Institutions  were  established.  In  1824,  all  the  old  statutes, 
from  the  time  of  Edward  I,  relating  to  the  combinations  of 
workmen,  the  rates  of  wages,  and  the  hours  of  work,  were 
repealed.  The  great  injustice  had  long  been  felt  of  allow- 
ing masters  in  concert,  to  fix  the  rate  of  wages  and  the 
hours  of  work,  and  interdicting  the  workman  to  fix  theirs. 

In  1827,  a  number  of  men  distinguished  for  literary  and 
scientific  attainments,  established  a  society,  "For  the  Dif- 
fusion of  Knowledge  among  Men."  The  object  of  this  socie- 
ty was :  "  The  imparting  of  useful  information  to  all  classes 
of  the  community,  particularly  to  such  as  are  unable  to  avail 
themselves  of  experienced  teachers,  or  may  prefer  teaching 
themselves."  In  this  year,  a  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  reported:  "That  in  the  United  Kingdom,  cir- 
cumstances indicated  a  great  deterioration  among  the  people 
of  the  agricultural  districts,  where  wages  were  so  depressed 
by  competition  for  employment,  that  the  laborer  is  com- 
pelled to  live  chiefly  on  bread  and  potatoes,  seldom  tasting 
meat.  Symptoms  of  an  approaching  servile  war  are  discern- 
able,  which  can  only  be  averted  by  relieving  the  market. 
In  Ireland  it  was  ascertained  that  a  part  of  the  population 
were  dependent  on  the  precarious  source  of  charity,  or  is 
compelled  to  resort  to  plunder  and  spoliation,  for  the  actual 
means  of  support."  The  committee  said  colonization  was 
the  best  remedy. 

In  1831,  the  barbarities  practiced  in  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts, caused  an  act  to  be  passed  that  a  person  under  twenty 
one  years  of  age  shall  not  work  at  night.  The  hours  of 
labor  to  be  from  half  past  five  in  the  morning  to  half  past 
eight  in  the  evening.  The  hours  of  labor  to  those  under 
eighteen  shall  be  twelve.  One  hour  and  a  half  shall  be  al- 
lowed for  meals.  A  parliamentary  committee  said :  "  The 
cruelty  and  cupidity  of  mill-owners  in  the  pursuit  of  gain 


72  THE  LABORER; 

has  hardly  been  exceeded  by  the  Spaniards  in  the  pursuit  of 
gold."  Fifteen  boys  went  to  a  ragged  school  on  Sunday 
evening.  The  clock  struck  eight,  which  caused  them  to 
start  away.  The  master  detained  one  and  said:  "The  les- 
son is  not  over."  The  reply  was:  "We  must  go  to  busi- 
ness, and  catch  them  as  come  out  of  the  chapels.*'  The 
boy  had  no  remorse  or  shame,  in  making  this  avowal ;  be- 
cause he  believed  he  would  die  with  starvation,  if  he  did 
not  go  and  steal.  To  another  boy  the  master  spoke  of  the 
terrors  of  after  life.  The  boy  said  :  "  That  may  be  so,  but 
I  don't  think  it  can  be  any  worse  than  this  world  is  to 
me."  There  are  in  London  alone  30,000  juvenile  beggars 
and  thieves,  many  of  whom  are  not  as  moral  as  the  brutes 
of  the  earth,  and  many  have  nothing  but  rags  tied  on  them. 
This  chapter  will  teach  what  laborers  have  suffered.  It 
is  not  legislation  men  want,  it  is  more  industry.  Were  the 
kings  of  the  earth,  with  their  horses,  servants,  and  soldiers, 
made  to  do  work,  misery  would  cease.  Those  who  have 
started  governments  by  conquest  were  robbers,  they  are  con- 
tinued among  men  by  violence,  fraud,  folly,  and  ignorance. 
When  the  wrongs  that  governments  do  shall  cease,  man- 
kind will  be  happy.  Men  are  made  poor  by  those  who 
govern  them.  Want  makes  crime,  and  it  will  ever  be  so 
while  one  man  works,  and  another  does  nothing.  Society 
contains  many  who  do  single  work  and  get  quadruple  pay. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

GOVERNMENTS    AND    FEUDALISM. 

PATRIARCHAL  GOVERNMENTS — THE  ORIGIN  OF  MONARCHIES — THEIR  COR- 
RUPTIONS AND  CHANGES — WILLIAM  THE  NORMAN — His  ADVENT  INTO 
ENGLAND — FEUDALISM  ITS  ORIGIN  AND  NECESSITY  TO  IMPROVE  MEN. 

"Governments  are  caused  by  men's  wickedness." — PAINK. 

JN  the  earth,  at  the  present  time,  may  be  found  na- 
tions and  tribes  of  men  who  are  a  type  of  the  past 
generations  in  every  period  of  time.  In  Ceylon 
some  of  the  interior  natives  live  in  trees,  and  have  little  or 
no  language.  The  habitations  of  the  Australians  are  made 
by  the  women,  of  branches,  bark,  and  clay.  The  Patago- 
nians,  in  the  days  of  Columbus,  had  no  conception  of  a  fire. 
Little  did  man  know  when  he  commenced  his  career  on 
this  earth,  he  had  none  to  guide  him.  Nature  provided 
spontaneous  productions  for  all  his  wants.  Those  who 
lived  longest  had  the  most  experience,  and  were  the  guides 
to  others.  In  course  of  time  there  would  be  an  insufficien- 
cy of  room,  which  would  cause  some  one  to  start  into  the 
wilderness.  His  family  would  increase,  after  awhile  this  man 
would  be  the  patriarch  of  his  tribe,  who  would  obey  him 
because  he  knew  the  most.  His  commands  would  be 
reasonable  because  he  loved  his  people.  Their  wealth 
would  be  flocks,  which  would  give  them  milk  and  fleeces. 
These  would  require  pasturage,  and  in  changing  their  pas- 
turage, these  shepherds  would  come  in  contact  with  other 

(73) 


74  THE  LABORER; 

tribes,  which  would  lead  to  a  conflict.  The  conquered 
party  would  be  willing  to  be  slaves  for  the  sake  of  having 
their  lives  spared.  The  two  tribes  would  easily  overcome 
another  tribe.  Has  the  leader  of  the  successful  party  a  right 
to  adoration,  or  a  greater  share  of  the  spoils,  than  the  others  ? 
Has  his  posterity  a  right  to  honors  and  rewards  forever  ?  A 
leader  of  a  battle  is  often  at  a  distance.  The  leader  has  a 
feeling  of  satisfaction,  and  this  should  be  his  only  reward. 
Hereditary  honors,  how  costly  they  are  to  mankind !  The 
family  of  England's  Queen,  with  her  own  salary  costs  hei 
nation  annually  §6,000,000.  This  enormous  sum  requires 
hundreds  of  tax-gatherers  to  collect  it.  To  keep  the  people 
from  revolting,  a  standing  army  of  24,000  persons  are  re- 
quired ;  these  consume  a  fourth  of  the  laborer's  earnings. 
After  the  war  between  those  shepherds,  was  there  any  need 
of  the  chief  living  a  life  of  idleness,  or  lessening  the  scanty 
stores  of  the  others  ? 

There  can  be  no  doubt  the  ancient  Britons  were  once 
rude  shepherds.  It  is  commerce  and  being  conquered  that 
has  made  England  great  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  Conquest  in  England's  history  marks  the  line  of  that 
which  is  authentic  from  that  which  is  doubtful.  All  the 
history  antecedent  to  William  the  I  contains  much  that  is 
marvelous  and  improbable.  The  improvements  in  the 
arts  were  slow  in  one  period,  rapid  in  the  other.  What  a 
contrast  between  the  two  periods  of  time  !  One  is  a  long 
night  of  bondage,  darkness,  and  error,  with  only  gleams  of 
social  amelioration.  The  latter  period  shows  what  a  fa- 
vorable climate,  and  the  discoveries  of  men  of  genius  can 
accomplish. 

The  Teutonic  invaders  of  England  did  much  to  make 
stronger  those  germs  of  art  and  science  started  by  the  Ro- 
mans. These  latter  taught  the  Britons  how  to  build  stone 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  75 

houses,  to  spin  and  weave  cloth.  The  Anglo-Saxon  insti- 
tutions were  analogous  to  all  communities  entering  on  the 
early  career  of  civilization.  Such  was  their  rudeness  that 
the  marriage  rites  were  not  always  observed.  They  held 
in  slavery  two-thirds  of  the  people.  It  was  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  that  did  much  to  reclaim  them.  The  code 
of  laws  made  by  King  Alfred  show  the  progress  of  religion. 
It  was  William  the  Norman  that  gave  to  us  all  the  usages 
and  customs  of  modern  society,  and  it  may  be  profitable  to 
know  something  of  his  life. 

He  was  the  seventh  Duke  of  Normandy.  He  was  called 
a  duke  from  this  fact;  150  years  before  William's  time  a 
pirate  of  the  name  of  Rolla,  left  his  rude  home  on  the  Bal- 
tic, with  some  followers.  He  took  possession  of  a  part  of 
France,  and  it  was  called  Normandy,  from  the  Northmen 
who  conquered  it.  The  King  of  France  could  not  expel 
this  invader.  He  made  a  compromise:  Rolla  should  rule  as 
a  duke  if  he  would  do  homage  for  his  dukedom.  The  hom- 
age was,  that  he  should  kneel  in  the  presence  of  all  the  po- 
tentates and  chieftains,  and  put  his  clasped  hands  into  those 
of  the  king,  and  then  kiss  an  embroidered  slipper  on  the 
king's  foot.  This  Rolla  did  not  like  to  do.  One  of  the  no- 
bility was  called  to  do  it.  He  lifted  up  the  king's  foot  so  as 
to  throw  him  off  his  seat.  The  king  had  been  besieged  in 
his  capital,  and  was  too  feeble  to  resent  this  insult.  Another 
condition  of  peace  was  that  Rolla  should  be  baptized;  and 
marry  a  daughter  of  the  king.  A  long  peace  followed  ;  the 
resources  of  the  fertile  country  were  drawn  out.  Wil- 
liam had  abundant  means  for  his  invasion  of  England.  The 
conqueror  of  England  was  not  of  noble  blood,  on  the  side 
of  his  mother.  Robert,  the  father  of  William,  saw  a  girl, 
the  daughter  of  a  tanner,  washing  clothes  at  a  stream.  He 
sent  for  her  to  live  at  his  castle.  It  was  not  customary  for 
\ 


76  THE  LABORER; 

dukes  and  peasants  to  marry.  It  is  strange  that  those  who 
are  the  most  useful  should  be  held  in  contempt,  while  a  pi- 
rate's descendants,  who  can  overrun  a  province  and  make 
its  people  poor,  are  held  in  esteem.  At  the  present  time 
excessive  riches  are  acquired  by  injustice,  and  their  possess- 
ors are  more  regarded  than  those  who  keep  men  from  dying 
by  their  useful  toil.  The  offspring  of  Robert  and  Arlotte 
was  William,  a  very  beautiful  boy.  His  father  was  proud  of 
him.  At  his  father's  death, when  thirteen  years  of  age,  hom- 
age and  fealty  was  shown  to  him  by  the  barons.  The  rea- 
son of  this  obedience,  was  that  the  king  of  France  might 
recover  again  his  province,  which  had  been  given  up.  By 
being  united  they  could  keep  down  the  common  people. 
Barons  are  often  quarrelsome ;  a  duke  or  a  king  can  do 
very  much  toward  reconciling  them.  A  king  is  a  judge 
as  well  as  a  leader.  A  nice  analysis  of  the  laws  of  civilized 
society  show  they  favor  the  rich  more  than  those  who  do 
the  hard  toil.  There  is  a  sufficiency  of  labor  done  to  make 
every  one  rich.  The  labor  is  put  in  the  wrong  place.  In- 
equality must  ever  exist  where  the  rich  make  the  laws.  If 
riches  were  universal,  crime  would  cease. 

William's  pretext  for  invading  England  was,  he  consid- 
ered himself  the  legitimate  successor  to  its  crown.  Ethel- 
red,  the  Saxon  king  of  England,  married  Emma,  a  sister  of 
one  of  the  dukes  of  Normandy.  Edward,  one  of  her  sons, 
was  much  in  Normandy,  and  was  often  in  William's  com- 
pany. When  Edward  became  king  of  England,  William 
paid  him  a  visit.  Edward  had  no  children,  and  William, 
it  is  said,  obtained  a  promise  from  him,  that  he  should  in  his 
will  be  named  as  his  successor. 

Edward  the  king  had  a  quarrel  with  the  Earl  Godwin, 
which  led  to  a  cruel  civil  war.  A  compromise  was  made; 
Godwin  was  to  retain  his  rank,  and  the  government  of  a 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  77 

province,  and  he  promised  to  dismiss  his  armies,  and  to 
make  war  upon  the  king  no  more.  He  bound  himself  to 
the  faithful  performance  of  this  covenant  by  giving  the  king 
hostages.  Godwin  gave  to  King  Edward  a  son  and  grand- 
son. Edward  sent  these  to  William  for  safe  keeping.  It 
was  those  who  were  the  best  beloved  that  were  given  up. 
A  non-fulfillment  of  the  contract  subjected  the  hostages  to 
torture  and  death.  These  lived  in  continual  fear  among 
their  enemies.  Godwin  died.  Harold  his  son  asked  King 
Edward  if  he  could  go  to  Normandy  for  his  brother  and 
nephew,  as  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  for  detaining 
them.  Edward  did  not  like  to  give  them  up,  as  Harold 
was  ambitious.  Harold  went  over  the  channel ;  a  con- 
trary wind  wrecked  him  on  the  dominions  of  the  Count  of 
Ponthieu,  who  demanded  a  large  ransom  before  he  was  re- 
leased. William  received  Harold  with  a  great  deal  of  hos- 
pitality, he  got  up  games,  feasts,  and  military  spectacles,  and 
gave  to  the  followers  of  Harold  suits  of  armor,  presents  of 
horses,  and  banners.  William  went  on  an  expedition,  and 
took  Harold  with  him ;  on  the  journey  home  William  told 
Harold  that  King  Edward  was  to  adopt  him  as  his  succes- 
sor. Harold  had  designs  to  secure  the  crown  for  himself. 
As  he  was  the  guest  of  William  he  consented  to  his  plans. 
The  most  solemm  oaths  were  administered  to  Harold  to 
bind  him  to  his  word.  William  kept  Harold's  brother, 
promising  to  bring  him  over  when  he  came  to  England. 
Harold  did  not  consider  his  oath  binding,  as  it  was  taken  to 
prevent  being  made  a  prisoner.  Harold  collected  munitions 
of  war,  made  friends  of  the  wealthy,  and  sought  the  favor 
of  the  king.  Edward,  on  his  death-bed,  told  his  nobles  to 
choose  whom  they  liked  for  their  king.  Harold  was  made 
king  with  much  splendor.  Wolves  destroy  in  packs;  they 
have  a  leader.  Nobles  and  wolves  are  alike. 


78  THE  LABORER; 

William,  on  receiving  the  news  that  Harold  was  made 
king,  made  preparations  to  invade  England.  Every  baron 
in  his  realm  was  bound,  by  the  feudal  conditions  on  which 
lie  held  his  lands,  to  furnish  his  quota  of  men  for  any  en- 
terprise the  sovereign  should  see  fit  to  engage  in.  The  no- 
bles found  ships  and  money.  On  the  English  soil  the  bat- 
tle of  Hastings  was  fought.  It  was  long  and  severe.  Harold 
with  250  of  his  nobles  were  slain.  This  battle  made  Wil- 
liam king.  He  fortified  London  and  reduced  the  island  to 
his  sway.  He  confiscated  the  property  of  the  nobles  who 
had  fought  against  him.  This  conquest  was  the  means  of 
introducing  into  England  and  America  pernicious  customs, 
the  evils  of  which  it  will  be  as  difficult  to  convince  the 
people,  as  it  will  the  Chinese  women  that  it  is  wrong  to 
wear  tight  shoes. 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  terror  of  the  English  on  the 
death  of  Harold.  Stigand,  the  primate,  made  submission 
to  the  conqueror  in  the  name  of  the  clergy.  The  nobility 
made  submission  also  to  him.  William  accepted  the  crown 
upon  the  terms  that  he  should  govern  according  to  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country.  He  could  have  made  what  terms  he 
pleased ;  though  a  conqueror  he  wished  to  be  thought  an 
elected  king.  For  this  reason  he  was  crowned  at  West- 
minster. He  took  the  oath  that  he'would  observe  the  laws, 
defend  the  church,  and  govern  the  kingdom  with  imparti- 
ality. William  did  not  find  ruling  very  pleasant.  His  wife 
and  son  Robert  governed  Normandy  in  his  absence.  Robert 
used  his  influence  to  supplant  his  father.  The  King  of 
France  assisted  Robert,  which  caused  William  to  invade 
his  country  and  burn  his  towns.  He  assaulted  the  town  of 
Mantes,  and  set  it  on  fire ;  while  riding  among  the  ruins  his 
horse  stepped  on  some  fire  concealed  among  ashes  ;  the 
pain  made  the  horse  to  throw  his  rider,  which  caused  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  79 

death  of  William.  Many,  when  they  come  to  die,  think 
they  can  atone  for  a  life  of  avarice,  legal  plundering,  and 
abstracting  others'  comforts,  by  religious  charity,  by  sending 
clothing  and  missionaries  to  Africa,  or  building  a  fine  church. 
Religion  makes  men  moral  and  saving.  Many  invest  their 
religious  savings  in  wild  lands  and  corner  lots,  for  specula- 
tion, after  consuming  a  generous  portion  of  the  gains,  "an 
offering  to  the  Lord"  is  made  to  soothe  the  conscience  of 
those  who  know  their  money  comes  from  those  suffering 
painful  anguish  of  mind  and  bitter  self-denial. 

Remorse  of  conscience  troubled  William  for  his  deeds. 
He  cried  to  God  for  forgiveness,  and  ordered  the  monks  to 
pray  for  him.  He  gave  his  money  to  the  poor,  and  ordered 
the  churches  that  he  had  destroyed  to  be  rebuilt.  As  soon 
as  William  was  dead,  his  attendants  carried  his  arms,  plate, 
furniture,  and  dresses  away.  Monks  came  with  crosses 
and  tapers,  to  pray  for  the  repose  of  his  soul.  The  body 
was  put  in  a  cart  to  be  buried  in  a  monastery  .he  had  built. 
As  the  procession  was  moving  along,  a  fire  broke  out,  and 
those  in  the  procession  went  to  put  it  out.  The  body  went 
on.  At  the  grave  a  person  forbid  the  burial,  because  the 
abbey  lands  had  been  taken  without  paying  for  them.  A 
sum  was  paid  for  a  grave.  A  stone  coffin  had  been  made, 
it  was  found  too  small,  and  in  trying  to  put  the  body  in,  the 
coffin  broke.  The  church  was  so  offensive  every  body  left 
except  the  workmen,  to  fill  up  the  grave. 

The  English  historians  complain,  of  the  most  grievous 
oppressions  of  William  and  his  Normaris.  Whether  by 
his  conduct  the  conqueror  willingly  gave  the  English  oppor- 
tunities of  rebelling  against  him,  in  order  to  have  a  pretense 
for  oppressing  them  afterward,  is  not  easy  to  say ;  but  it  is 
certain  that  the  beginning  of  his  reign  can  not  justly  be 
blamed.  The  first  disgust  against  his  government  was  ex- 


8o  THE  LABORER; 

cited  among  the  clergy.  William  could  not  avoid  the  re- 
warding of  those  numerous  adventurers,  who  had  accom- 
panied him  in  his  expedition.  He  first  divided  the  lands  of 
the  English  barons,*  who  had  opposed  him,  among  his 
Norman  barons ;  but  as  these  were  found  insufficient,  he 
quartered  the  rest  on  the  rich  abbeys,  of  which  there  were 
many  in  the  kingdom,  until  some  opportunity  of  providing 
them  offered  itself. 

The  whole  nation  was  soon  disgusted,  by  seeing  the 
real  power  of  the  kingdom  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Nor- 
mans. He  disarmed  the  city  of  London,  and  other  places 
which  appeared  most  warlike  and  populous,  and  quartered 
Norman  soldiers  wherever  he  dreaded  an  insurrection. 
This  was  indeed  acting  as  a  conqueror  and  not  as  an  elected 
king.  The  king  having  thus  secured  England  as  he  imag- 
ined from  any  danger  of  revolt,  determined  to  pay  a  visit 
to  his  Norman  dominions.  He  appointed  Otho  his  brother, 
and  William  Fitz  Osborne  as  regents  in  his  absence ;  and  to 
secure  himself  yet  further  he  took  with  him  such  of  the  no- 
bility as  he  had  no  confidence  in. 

His  absence  produced  most  fatal  consequences.  Dis- 
contents and  murmurings  were  multiplied  every-where ; 
conspiracies  were  entered  into  against  the  government ;  hos- 
tilities were  commenced  in  many  places ;  and  every  thing 
seemed  to  threaten  a  speedy  revolution.  William  of  Poic- 
tiers,  a  Norman  historian,  throws  the  blame  on  the  English. 
He  calls  them  a  fickle  and  mutinous  race.  The  English 

*  BARON,  a  degree  of  nobility,  a  lord  or  peer,  in  rank  below  a  viscount, 
and  above  that  of  a  knight  or  baronet.  The  barons  were  the  feudatories  of 
princes,  the  proprietors  of  land  held  by  honorable  service,  and  members  of  the 
parliament.  Barons  had  courts  on  their  domains,  and  were  judges  of  the  people. 

VISCOUNT,  an  officer  who  supplied  the  place  of  earl  or  count — a  sheriff. 

FEUDATORY,  a  tenant  or  vassal  who  holds  lands  of  a  superior,  and  owes  for 
the  use  of  them  military  service. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  81 

historians  tell  us,  that  these  governors  took  all  the  opportu- 
nities of  oppressing  the  people,  either  with  a  view  of  pro- 
voking them  to  a  rebellion,  or,  in  case  they  submitted,  to 
grow  rich  by  plundering  them.  A  secret  conspiracy  was 
formed  among  the  English  for  a  general  massacre  of  the 
Normans.  The  conspirators  had  already  taken  the  resolu- 
tion, and  fixed  the  day  for  the  massacre,  which  was  to  be 
on  Ash-Wednesday,  during  the  time  of  divine  service, 
when  the  Normans  were  unarmed,  as  penitents,  according 
to  the  discipline  of  the  times.  The  presence  of  William 
disconcerted  all  their  schemes.  Some  of  the  conspirators 
consulted  their  safety  by  flight;  and  this  served  to  confirm 
the  proofs  against  those  who  remained.  From  this  time 
the  king  not  only  lost  all  confidence  in  his  English  subjects, 
but  regarded  them  as  inveterate  and  irreconcilable  enemies. 
He  had  already  raised  such  a  number  of  fortresses,  that  he 
did  not  dread  any  of  his  discontented  subjects.  He  deter- 
mined to  treat  them  as  a  conquered  people.  He  revived 
the  tax  of  the  Danegelt.*  This  produced  insurrections. 
Exeter  and  Cornwall  revolted  ;  they  were  soon  subdued,  and 
began  to  implore  the  conqueror's  mercy.  Many  fled  into 
Scotland  and  other  places. 

The  English  did  not  fail  privately,  in  the  woods  and  high- 
ways, to  assassinate  the  Normans,  when  there  was  no  pos- 
sibility of  being  brought  to  justice.  The  conquerors  began 
to  wish  for  security;  several  of  them  desired  to  be  dismissed 
from  service.  William,  to  prevent  it,  increased  their  boun- 
ties. The  consequences  were  fresh  exactions  from  the 
English,  and  new  insurrections  to  prevent  it.  The  county 
of  Northumberland,  which  had  been  most  active  in  revolt, 

DANEGELT,  an  ancient  tax  to  procure  money  to  expel  the  Danes,  or  give  it 
to  them  to  leave.  It  was  at  first  a  shilling  for  every  hide  of  land,  and  after- 
ward seven.  The  Danes,  when  masters,  levied  the  same  tax. 


82  THE  LABORER; 

suffered  the  most.  On  this  occasion  100,000  persons  per- 
ished by  sword  and  famine.  The  estates  of  all  the  English 
gentry  were  confiscated,  and  given  to  the  Normans.  All 
the  ancient  families  were  reduced  to  beggary,  and  the  Eng- 
lish excluded  from  preferment. 

In  order  that  William  might  have  a  hunting  ground,  he 
created  New  Forest,  by  destroying  many  villages  and  twen- 
ty-two parish  churches.  Manors*  and  chapels  were  de- 
stroyed within  a  circuit  of  thirty  miles.  Blount  says:  "It 
was  attended  with  divers  judgments  on  the  posterity  of 
William — one  son  Rufus  was  shot  by  an  arrow,  Richard 
met  the  same  fate.  Henry,  nephew  of  the  oldest  son,  was 
caught  by  the  hair  of  the  head  in  a  tree,  like  Absalom." 

William  caused  a  survey  of  lands  in  thirty  counties  in 
England.  This  survey  was  made  in  1078.  The  reason 
given  for  this  survey  is,  "That  every  man  should  be  satis- 
fied with  his  own  right,  and  not  usurp  with  impunity  what 
belongs  to  another."  All  those  who  held  lands  became 
vassalsf  of  the  king,  and  paid  him,  as  a  fee,  money,  homage, 
service,  in  proportion  to  the  lands  they  held.  For  the  ex- 
ecution of  this  survey,  commissioners  were  sent  into  every 
county  and  shire.  These  were  to  be  informed  upon  oath 
by  the  inhabitants,  of  the  name  of  each  manor,  and  that  of 
its  owner;  the  number  of  hides  of  land, J  the  quantity  of 
wood,  pasture,  and  meadow  lands ;  how  many  plows  in  the 
demesne, §  how  many  fish-ponds,  and  mills  belonged  to  it; 
with  the  value  of  the  whole ;  also  whether  it  was  capable 

*  MANOR,  a  gentleman's  country  house,  a  district  bounded  with  stones, 
from  maen,  a  stone.  This  word  means  the  house  and  lands  of  a  lord  for  his 
own  subsistence,  and  the  right  to  hold  court-baron  [a  court.] 

f  VASSAL,  a  servant  to  a  prince  for  the  use  of  lands,  which  are  cultivated  by 
persons  in  humble  life,  who  become  vassals  to  the  lord. 

J  HIDE  OF  LAND,  a  quantity  of  land,  supposed  to  be  what  one  plow  can  do 

$  DEMESNE,  a  manor  house  for  the  use  of  the  family,  with  sufficient  lands. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  83 

of  improvement  or  being  advanced  in  value.  They  were 
likewise  directed  to  return  the  tenants  of  every  degree,  the 
quantity  of  lands  then  and  formerly  held  by  each  of  them, 
what  was  the  number  of  villains  or  slaves,  the  number  and 
kinds  of  their  cattle.  These  inquisitions  were  sent  to  the 
king's  exchequer.  This  survey  gave  great  offense  to  the 
people;  and  occasioned  a  suspicion  that  it  was  intended  for 
some  new  imposition.  This  survey,  "The  Great  and  Lit- 
tle Doomsday  Book,"  is  now  in  Westminster,  written  in 
Latin,  highly  wrought,  on  vellum.  A  part  is  thus  translated: 


King  Ijolbs  JSprmunbpspg, 
rafob  at  12  Ijibes  of  tonb;  on  onp  is  a 
bpinpsitp,  25  tiilletns,  33  fcorbers,  a 
neto  rljurrlj  foft|  20  erpps  of  rapa- 
boto,  anb  pshragp  for  fi&p  Ijogs."* 

Dr.  Stuart  says  :  "  The  spirit  of  feudalism  was  national 
defense  and  domestic  independence."  Feudalism  is  a  system 
so  contrived  that  a  conquering  people  can  defend  them- 
selves from  enemies  without,  and  an  outraged  people  within. 
Without  a  knowledge  of  feudalism  it  is  impossible  to  un- 
derstand the  nature  of  civil  governments,  or  the  laws  relat- 
ing to  the  possession  of  land. 

*  VILLAINS,  were  annexed  to  the  manor,  attached  to  the  person  of  the  lord, 
and  transferable  to  others.  BORDARS,  those  who  tilled  land  to  supply  the  lord's 
table,  which  were  pieces  of  bords  or  boards.  BORD-LAND  was  to  supply  the  ta- 
ble, or  boards,  with  food,  from  which  comes  bordars.  These  letters  are  speci- 
mens of  those  used  to  record  this  survey,  and  it  reads  thus  :  The  king  holds 
BERMUNDESKY  [in  Brixistan  Hundred],  rated  at  twelve  hides  of  land,  etc. 


84  THE  LABORER  ; 

The  constitution  of  feuds*  had  its  origin  in  the  military 
policy  of  the  Goths,  Franks,  Vandals  and  Lombards,  who 
poured  themselves  in  vast  multitudes  into  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  at  the  declension  of  the  Roman  empire.  It  was 
brought  by  them  from  their  own  countries,  and  ccntinued 
in  their  new  colonies,  as  the  most  likely  means  to  secure 
them  their  new  acquisitions.  Large  parcels  of  land  were 
allotted  by  the  conquering  general  to  the  superior  officers 
of  the  army,  and  by  them  dealt  out  again  to  the  inferior 
officers,  and  most  deserving  soldiers.  These  allotments 
were  called  "feoda,"  "feuds,"  "fiefs,"  or  "fees,"f  which 
appellation  signifies  a  conditional  reward ;  and  the  condition 
was,  that  the  possessor  should  do  service  faithfully,  both  at 
home  and  abroad  in  the  wars.  He  who  received  them 
took  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  him  that  granted  them.  If  this 
oath  was  broken,  the  stipulated  service  not  performed,  or 
the  lord  forsaken  in  battle,  the  rewards  were  to  revert  again 
to  him  who  granted  them. 

Allotments  thus  acquired,  naturally  engaged  such  as  ac- 
cepted them  to  defend  them ;  as  they  all  sprang  from  the 
same  right  of  conquest,  no  part  could  subsist  independent 
of  the  whole.  All  givers  as  well  as  receivers  were  bound 
to  defend  each  others'  possessions.  This  could  not  be 
done  in  a  tumultuous,  irregular  way,  some  subordination  was 
necessary.  Every  receiver  of  lands,  was  bound,  when  called 
on  to  defend  the  same,  when  called  upon  by  his  benefactor, 
for  his  feud  or  fee.  The  benefactor  was  under  the  com- 
mand of  the  prince.  Almost  all  the  real  property  of  Eng- 
land is  by  the  policy  of  the  laws,  granted  by  the  superior  lord 
or  king  in  consideration  of  certain  services  to  be  rendered 
by  the  tenant  for  this  property.  This  lord  becomes  a  ten- 

*  FEUD,  a  quarrel  between  families  or  parties  in  a  state,  a  right  to  lands  on 
certain  conditions,  f  FEE,  a  loan  of  land,  an  estate  in  trust  for  services. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  85 

ant  of  the  king  or  a  chief  tenant.  This  grant  was  called 
a  tenement,  the  manner  of  the  possession  a  tenure,*  and  the 
possessors  tenants.  By  this  reasoning  all  the  lands  in  Eng- 
land is  supposed  to  be  holden  by  the  king,  who  is  the  lord 
•paramount.  The  tenures,  by  which  the  lords  held  their 
lands,  were  sometimes  very  frivolous.  One  lord  had  a 
grant  of  land  given  him  for  being  the  king's  champion.  His 
duty  was  to  ride  armed  cap-a-pie  f  intoWestminster  Hall,  and 
by  the  proclamation  of  an  herald,  make  a  challenge,  u  That 
if  any  man  shall  deny  the  king's  title  to  the  crown,  he  is 
there  ready  to  defend  it  at  single  combat."  When  this  is 
done  the  king  sends  him  a  gilt  cup  full  of  wine,  which  the 
champion  drinks,  and  keeps  the  cup  for  his  fee.  This 
championship  is  in  the  family  of  Sir  John  Dymock,  who 
holds  the  manor  of  Sinvelsey,  in  Lincolnshire.  This  manor 
has  been  held  in  this  family  since  Richard  II.  At  the  coro- 
nation of  Charles  II  and  George  III,  a  person  of  this  name 
was  their  champion. 

Some  had  "feofs"  or  grants  of  land  for  carrying  the 
king's  banner,  his  sword,  or  holding  the  stirrup  when  mount- 
ing his  horse,  or  for  being  a  butler;  others, who  lived  on  the 
borders,  for  sounding  a  horn  on  the  approach  of  an  enemy. 
Some  had  grants  of  lands  for  annual  gifts  of  bows  and 
arrows.  Others  for  gifts  of  ships.  The  greatest  number 
of  these  tenures  were  held  for  knight  service.  \  These 
grants  of  land  were  great  in  proportion  to  the  services  given. 

*  TENURE,  the  manner  of  holding  lands  and  tenements  of  a  superior.  All 
the  species  of  ancient  tenures  may  be  reduced  to  four,  three  of  which  subsist  to 
this  day.  j.  Tenure  by  knight  service,  which  is  now  abolished  a.  Tenures 
by  fealty  or  paying  rent.  3.  Tenure  by  copy  of  court  roll  or  written  deed. 
4.  Tenure  in  ancient  demaip,  or  having  improved  and  occupied  the  land. 

•j-  CAP-A  PIE,   covered  with  armor  from  head  to  foot. 

\  KNIGHT,  a  man  admitted  to  military  rank  by  imposing  ceremonies.  A 
privilege  conferred  on  youths  of  rank.  In  modern  times  a  title,  which  is  Sir. 

9 


86  THE  LABORER; 

Those  who  understand  heraldry*  can  tell,  from  coats  of 
for  what  purposes  these  grants  of  lands  were  given.  Her- 
aldry is  a  kind  of  rude  writing  that  tells  of  the  deeds  of  the 
lords  in  battle.  It  was  in  use  before  printing.  Its  devices 
are  placed  on  the  persons,  houses,  and  carriages,  of  those 
who  are  entitled  to  them.  The  size  of  the  grants  of  land 
gave  birth  to  the  orders  of  aristocracy  of  various  names. 

The  king  had  daily  wants,  these  at  first  were  no  doubt 
supplied  by  the  labor  of  villains  from  his  own  lands,  which 
exceeded  the  lands  of  the  nobility.  The  lords  supplied 
their  wants  from  the  labors  of  vassals  and  slaves.  The 
difference  between  the  two  is  this :  the  vassal  was  a  soldier 
on  foot  for  a  limited  period,  frequently  for  forty  days,  or  the 
payment  of  an  assessment  in  place  of  it,  such  as  plowing  the 
lord's  land  for  three  days.  The  villain's  services  were  base 
in  their  nature,  such  as  manuring  the  fields  and  making  the 
hedges,  while  the  other  was  honorable.  SirWm.  Temple 
speaks  of  them  as  "A  sort  of  people  in  a  condition  of  down- 
right servitude,  used  and  employed  in  the  most  servile 
works,  belonging,  both  they  and  their  children,  and  also 
their  effects,  to  the  lords  of  the  soil,  like  the  rest  of  the 
cattle  or  stock  upon  the  land,  to  be  removed  at  the  lord's 
pleasure  or  will." 

These  villains,  belonged  principally  to  lords  of  manors, 
and  were  either  villains  regardant — that  is,  annexed  to  the 
manors — or  villains  in  gross,  that  is,  annexed  to  the  person 
of  the  lord,  and  transferable  from  one  owner  to  another. 
They  could  not  leave  their  lords  without  his  permission;  if 
they  ran  away,  or  were  purloined  from  him,  they  might  be 

*  HERALDRY,  is  the  art,  or  science,  of  recording  genealogies,  and  blazoning 
arms  or  armorial  ensigns.  It  teaches  what  relates  to  processions  and  ceremonies. 

•j-  COAT  OF  ARMS,  a  short  dress  on  which  was  embroidered  the  deeds  of  the 
family  in  silver  and  gold.  Its  devices  are  now  put  on  panels  and  shields. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  87 

claimed  like  other  beasts  or  chattels.  They  held  small 
portions  of  land  by  way  of  sustaining  themselves  and  fami- 
lies. The  lord  could  dispossess  him  at  any  time  when  he 
pleased.  A  villain  could  acquire  no  property  either  in 
lands  or  goods ;  if  he  purchased  either,  the  -lord  of  the 
manor*  could  seize  them  to  his  own  advantage,  unless  he 
contrived  to  dispose  of  them  again  before  the  lord  seized 
them. 

In  many  places  a  fine  was  payable  to  the  lord,  if  the  vil- 
lain presumed  to  marry  his  daughter,  without  his  consent,  to 
any  one.  The  lord  could  bring  an  action  against  the  hus- 
band for  purloining  his  property.  The  children  of  the  vil- 
lains were  also  in  the  same  state  of  bondage  with  their  pa- 
rents. The  law,  however,  protected  the  persons  of  villains, 
as  the  king's  subjects,  against  atrocious  injuries  from  the 
lords.  The  lord  could  beat  his  villain  with  impunity,  and 
there  was  no  redress  for  him.  The  lord  was  amenable  to 
the  law  only  for  maiming  or  killing  his  villain. 

In  process  of  time  villains  became  manumitted,  and 
gained  considerable  freedom  from  their  lords,  and  came  to 
have  an  interest  in  their  estates — the  good  nature  and  be- 
nevolence of  many  lords  of  manors  having,  time  out  of 
mind,  permitted  their  villains  and  their  children  to  enjoy 
their  possessions  without  interruption  in  a  regular  course  of 
descent.  In  general,  these  persons  held  their  estates  at 
the  will  of  the  lord,  and  were  tenants  by  copy  of  court-roll. f 

It  is  an  instructive  lesson  to  mark  the  transitions  of  the 

*  The  lord,  in  addition  to  his  manor  lands,  had  tenemental  lands  which  he 
distributed  among  tenants  who  held  them  by  different  modes  of  tenure. 
These  lands  were  called  book  or  charter  lands,  held  by  deed,  rents,  and  soldier 
services,  from  which  have  arisen  freehold  tenants  under  particular  manors,  and 
were  called  folklands,  held  by  no  writing,  but  distributed  among  the  common 
people  at  the  pleasure  of  the  lord. 

f  COURT-ROLL,   a  tenant's  tenure,  made  from  the  rolls  of  the  lord's  court. 


88  THE  LABORER; 

social  condition  of  men.  Ten  centuries  ago  portions  of 
Europe  were  occupied  by  men  who  possessed  the  soil  in 
common,  and  were  nearly  equal  in  their  condition.  This 
same  land  is  now  full  of  mansions,  the  abodes  of  learning, 
refinement,  and  splendor.  This  is  all  at  the  expense  of 
humble  toil.  For  the  use  of  a  piece  of  land  the  laborer  has 
to  give  one-half  of  his  labor,  and  half  of  what  he  has  left 
to  the  power  that  enforces  these  exactions.  These  rents 
at  the  first  were  very  mild  and  only  occasional,  and  were 
called  aids  and  reliefs  to  be  given  by  the  vassals  on  extraor- 
dinary occasions  of  the  son  coming  of  age,  his  marriage,  or 
when  the  lord  died,  and  his  son  took  the  oath  of  fealty  to 
the  king.  These  contributions  are  called  aids.* 

When  the  lord  was  reduced  to  distress  and  captivity  by 
public  or  private  wars,  when  he  was  in  embarrassment  from 
prodigality  or  waste,  when  he  required  means  to  support 
his  grandeur  or  advance  his  schemes  of  ambition,  the  vassal 
came  forward  to  relieve  him.  The  vassal,  on  entering  his 
fief  [grant  of  land]  felt  grateful,  and,  won  with  the  kindness 
of  the  lord,  made  him  presents.  These  acknowledgments 
natural  and  commendable,  produced  the  incident  of  relief,  f 

While  these  grants  of  land  were  precarious,  or  for  life, 
the  superior  chose  to  educate,  in  his  hall,  the  expectants 
of  his  fiefs.  As  these  fiefs  or  fees  were  to  descend  to  the 

*  AID,  the  assistance  a  person  gives  to  another.  AID  IN  Law,  a  tax  paid  by 
a  tenant  to  his  lord;  at  first  a  gift  it  became  a  right  demandable  by  the  lord 
*nd  was  chiefly  of  three  kinds,  i.  To  ransom  the  lord  when  a  prisoner,  z. 
To  make  the  lord's  eldest  son  a  knight.  3.  To  marry  the  lord's  eldest 
daughter  with  gifts.  These  modest  aids,  and  reliefs  have  now  become  rents. 

f  RELIEF  is  to  remove  or  lift,  in  law,  is  a  fine  payable  to  a  lord  by  the  heir 
of  a  tenant,  (whose  parent  or  ancestor  held  land  by  knight  service,)  for  the 
privilege  of  taking  up  the  estate,  which,  on  strict  feudal  principles,  had  lapsed 
or  fallen  to  the  lord  on  the  death  of  his  tenant.  This  relief  consisted  of  horses, 
arms,  money  and  the  like.  The  amount  was  at  first  arbitrary,  but  afterward 
fixed  at  a  certain  rate  by  law.  This  fine  was  payable  when  the  heir  was  of  age. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  89 

heir  of  his  vassal,  at  his  death  the  lord  took  charge  of  the 
son  and  his  estate.  The  lord  protected  his  person,  directed 
his  education,  and  watched  over  his  concerns,  and  felt  a 
pride  in  observing  his  approach  to  manhood,  and  delivering 
to  him,  on  his  majority,  the  lands  of  his  ancestors.  When 
the  heir  became  of  age  he  could  sue  for  his  estate  from  his 
guardians.  When  the  heir  had  possession  of  his  estate  he 
paid  a  fine  to  his  lord  equal  to  half  a  year's  profit  of  his 
land.  If  this  guardianship  was  done  in  a  proper  spirit,  its 
incidents  were  devoted  and  affectionate  friendship,  and 
pleasing  intercourse.  These  cares  were  expressed  by  the 
interests  of  wardship.* 

Grateful  for  the  past,  and  anxious  for  the  future  favor 
of  his  chief,  the  vassal  did  not  incline  to  ally  himself  with 
a  family  that  was  hostile  to  his  chief,  who  was  ambitious 
to  add  to  his  power  and  splendor  by  consulting  the  benefi- 
cial alliance  of  his  vassal.  They  joined  in  finding  out  the 
lady  whose  charms  and  connections  might  accord  with  the 
passions  of  the  one  and  the  policy  of  the  other. f 

When  the  vassal  gave  way  to  violence  or  disorder,  or 
when,  by  cowardice  or  delinquency,  he  rendered  himself  un- 
worthy of  his  fief — the  sacred  ties  that  bound  him  to  his  lord 
were  infringed — it  was  necessary  to  deprive  him  of  his  land 
and  give  it  to  one  more  honorable.  This  is  called  escheat. J 

*  WARDSHIP,  in  feudalism,  one  of  the  incidents  of  tenure  by  knight  service. 
The  wardship  of  the  infant  was  a  consequence  of  the  guardian  having  an 
ownership  in  the  soil.  The  infant  vassal  was  to  be  the  companion  of  the  lord, 
hence  he  was  the  most  proper  person  to  give  his  ward  such  an  education  as 
would  enable  him  to  perform  the  services  he  was  bound  to  render. 

f  Marriage,  in  ancient  times,  was  a  means  used  to  strengthen  the  power  of 
kings  and  nobles.  Marriage  has  often  merged  two  kingdoms  peacefully  into 
one.  The  lords,  in  past  times,  quarreled  often  with  each  other.  Intermarriages 
would  promote  peace.  Each  lord  was  to  his  subjects  the  same  as  a  king.  What 
marriage  does  for  the  chief  lord,  it  does  the  same  to  the  inferior  lord. 

J  ESCHEATS,  lands  that  are  forfeited  to  the  lord  by  the  death  of  his  vassal. 


90  THE  LABORER; 

To  perpetuate  the  conquest  made  it  necessary  to  have  all 
the  lands  in  England  divided  into  what  are  called  knight's 
fees  [fees  mean  fiefs  or  grants  of  land.]  They  numbered 
60,000 ;  and  for  every  fee  a  knight  or  soldier  was  bound  to 
attend  to  the  king  in  his  wars,  for  forty  days  in  a  year ;  in 
which  space  of  time  the  campaign  was  generally  finished, 
and  a  kingdom  either  conq  icred  or  was  lost.  By  this 
means  the  king  had  at  his  command  60,000  men  without 
expense. 

The  knights  or  soldiers  were  of  two  kinds.  Knights  to 
the  king,  and  knights  to  the  lord — the  one  had  honor,  the 
other  service.  They  were  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
knighthood  and  knight-service.  To  become  a  knight  of  the 
higher  class  required  much  ceremony.  The  council  of  the 
district  where  he  belonged  was  assembled.  His  age  and 
qualifications  were  inquired  into ;  and  if  deemed  worthy  of 
being  admitted  to  the  privilege  of  a  knight,  his  father  adorned 
him  with  the  shield  and  lance.  In  consequence  of  this  so- 
lemnity, he  prepared  to  distinguish  himself,  and  his  mind 
was  open  to  the  cares  of  the  public ;  the  concerns  of  his 
family  were  no  longer  the  objects  of  his  attention. 

Knighthood,  known  under  the  name  of  chivalry^  is  to  be 
dated  from  the  nth  century.  All  Europe  being  reduced 
to  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion  by  the  decline  of  the 
house  of  Charlemagne,  every  proprietor  of  a  manor  became 
a  sovereign ;  the  mansion  house  became  a  castle,  and  was 
surrounded  by  a  moat.  The  lord  of  a  castle  had  often  en- 
gagements with  others.  It  frequently  happened  that  castles 
were  pillaged,  the  women  and  treasures  carried  off  by  the 
conquerors.  During  this  state  of  universal  hostility,  there 
was  no  friendly  mode  of  communication  between  the  pro- 
vinces, nor  any  high  roads  from  one  part  of  the  kingdom 
to  the  other.  The  traders  traveling  from  one  part  to 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  91 

another  with  their  merchandise  and  families  were  in  danger; 
the  lord  of  every  castle  extorted  something  from  them  on 
the  road ;  and  at  last,  some  one  more  rapacious  than  the 
rest,  seized  upon  the  whole  cargo,  and  bore  off  the  women 
for  his  own  use.  Thus  castles  became  warehouses  of  all 
kinds  of  rich  merchandise,  and  the  prisons  of  distressed  fe- 
males, whose  fathers  or  lovers  had  been  slain  or  plundered. 

Many  good  lords  associated  together  to  repress  these 
scenes  of  violence  and  rapine,  to  secure  their  property  and 
protect  the  ladies.  The  association  received  the  sanction 
of  a  religious  vow  and  ceremony.  The  first  knights  were 
men  of  the  highest  rank.  The  fraternity  were  regarded 
with  reverence.  Admission  into  this  order  was  deemed  the 
highest  honor.  The  candidate  fasted  from  sunrise,  con- 
fessed himself,  and  received  the  sacrament.  He  was  dressed 
in  a  white  tunic,  and  placed  himself  at  a  side  table,  where 
he  was  neither  to  smile,  speak,  or  eat ;  while  the  knights 
and  ladies,  who  were  to  perform  the  principal  ceremony, 
were  eating,  drinking,  and  making  merry  at  the  big  table. 
His  armor  was  put  on — he  advanced  with  his  sword  hang- 
ing about  his  neck,  and  received  the  benediction  of  the 
priest.  From  this  time  the  knight  devoted  himself  to  the 
redress  of  wrongs,  to  secure  merchants  from  the  rapacious 
cruelty  of  banditti,  and  women  from  their  ravishers,  to 
whose  power  they  were  exposed  by  the  confusion  of  the 
times.* 

Valor,  courtesy,  justice,  humanity,  and  honor,  were 
traits  of  character  in  the  knight,  and  to  these  were  added 
religious  duties ;  these  were  productive  of  improvement  in 
manners.  War  was  carried  on  with  less  ferocity,  humanity 
was  deemed  an  ornament  of  knighthood,  and  knighthood 
a  distinction  superior  to  royalty.  Gentle  manners  were  in- 

*The  lords  engaging  in  the  Crusades  made  wars  cease  among  themselves. 


92  THE  LABORER; 

troduced,  and  courtesy  was  recommended  as  the  most  amia- 
ble of  virtues,  and  every  knight  devoted  himself  to  the  ser- 
vices of  a  lady.  Violence  and  oppression  decreased,  when 
it  was  accounted  meritorious  to  check  and  punish  them. 
A  scrupulous  adherence  to  truth,  with  the  most  religious  at- 
tention to  every  engagement,  were  some  of  the  benefits 
of  chivalry. 

During  the  prevalence  of  chivalry,  the  ardor  of  repressing 
wrongs  seized  powerfully  many  knights.  Attended  by  their 
esquires  *  they  wandered  about  in  search  of  objects  whose 
misfortunes  and  misery  required  assistance.  To  assist  and 
relieve  the  ladies  was  an  achievement  they  most  courted. 
This  was  the  rise  of  knights-errant,  whose  adventures  have 
been  the  foundation  of  many  romances. f 

If  we  compare  the  amount  that  an  Englishman  pays  now 
for  the  loan  of  an  acre  of  soil,  with  the  amount  that  the 
barons  of  William  I  received,  we  can  see  how  aggressive 
and  unjust  are  a  few  to  the  many.  The  English  tenant 
has  now  to  give  one-half  to  two- thirds  of  his  labor  for  rent. 
It  was  not  so  with  the  Norman  tenant.  What  he  paid  was 
only  occasionally,  and  under  the  modest  name  of  aids,  reliefs, 
presents,  the  exactions  of  wardships  and  marriage  presents. 

The  ties  that  bound  the  barons  and  his  soldiers  together, 
were  destined  to  undergo  a  change.  The  bond  of  union  was 
the  danger  that  surrounded  them.  When  the  baron  did 
not  fear  the  subjugated  English,  then  he  began  to  increase 
the  burdens  that  his  vassal  should  bear,  which  may  be  illus- 

*  ESQUIRE,  once  a  shield-bearer  and  an  attendant  on  a  knight.  Now  a 
title  given  to  the  younger  sons  of  the  nobility,  to  the  king's  court  officers,  to 
counselors  at  law,  justices  of  peace,  sheriffs,  and  gentlemen.  In  the  United 
States  this  title  is  given  to  officers  of  all  degrees,  from  governors  down  to  jus- 
tices and  attorneys.  When  used  to  others  it  is  a  mark  of  respect. 

•j-  KNIGHT-ERRANT,  a  knight  who  traveled  in  search  of  adventures,  for  the 
purpose  of  exhibiting  his  military  skill,  prowess,  and  generosity. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  93 

trated  by  a  benevolent  writer:*  "The  Arab  trains  his 
camel,  from  its  birth,  to  all  the  exercises  and  hardships  it  is 
to  undergo  during  the  whole  course  of  its  life.  He  accus- 
toms it  to  labor  hard  and  eat  but  little.  He  teaches  it  to 
draw  its  legs  up  under  its  belly,  while  it  suffers  itself  to  be 
laden  with  burdens,  that  are  insensibly  increased  as  its 
strength  is  improved  by  age,  and  by  the  habit  of  bearing  fa- 
tigue. This  singular  plan  of  education  princes  sometimes 
adopt,  the  more  easily  to  tame  their  subjects.'1 

The  generous  maxims  of  feudal  association  and  the  wild- 
ness  of  chivalry  were  to  suffer  with  time.  Property  was  to 
be  unfolded  in  all  its  relations.  It  became  a  distinction 
more  powerful  than  merit,  and  was  to  alter  the  condition 
of  human  society.  By  separating  the  interests  of  the  lord 
and  his  vassals,  it  was  to  destroy  forever  the  principles  of 
their  association;  and  the  incidents,  which,  in  a  better  age, 
had  fostered  their  friendships,  were  to  feed  their  rage.  As 
their  union  had  been  attended  with  advantages,  their  disaf- 
fection was  attended  with  debasement.  Out  of  the  sweets 
of  love,  a  fatal  bitterness  was  engendered.  Oppression  was 
to  succeed  freedom ;  society  and  governments  were  to  be 
disorderly  ;  diseases  and  infirmities  were  to  threaten  its 
decay. 

In  the  prevalence  of  property  and  mercenary  views  the 
ward\  of  the  infant  vassal  was  to  be  regarded  in  no  other 
light  than  a  lucrative  emolument.  He  committed  spoils  on 
the  estate  which  of  old  it  was  his  duty  to  improve.  He 
neglected  the  education  of  his  heir,  and  gave  insults  to  his 
person.  His  relations  were  often  compelled  to  buy  from 
his  superior  the  custody  of  his  person  and  his  lands.  This 

*ABBE  RAYNAL'S  Hist,  of  Europeans  in  East  and  West  Indies,  vol  I,  p. 3  3 3. 
•*•  WARD,  a  guardian  over  a  child.        To  charge  for  these  services   would 
open  a  wide  field  of  avarice  and  peculation,  and  be  a  source  of  bitterness. 


94  THE  LABORER; 

right  of  wardship  was  frequently  let  out  to  the  rapacity  of 
strangers.  The  treasury  of  princes*  was  to  increase  with 
this  traffic  ;  and  subject  superiors  were  to  imitate  the  exam- 
ple of  princes.  The  heir,  on  his  joyless  majority,  received 
the  lands  of  his  ancestors  with  a  melancholy  feeling,  his 
castle  bore  the  marks  of  neglect,  his  fields  were  deformed 
with  waste,  grievances  were  to  embitter  his  complaints  and 
swell  his  passions,  his  woods  decayed,  houses  fallen  down, 
stock  wasted,  lands  barren.  The  heir  was  also  to  pay  half 
a  year's  profits  of  the  lands  for  suing  out  his  livery, f  and 
also  the  price  and  valuation  of  his  marriage.  J 

If  he  refused  such  a  wife  as  his  guardian  provided  for 
him  and  married  another  the  fine  was  twice  as  large.  The 
expensive  honor  of  knighthood  made  the  poverty  of  the  heir 
apparent,  and  the  deductions  from  his  fortune  to  which  he 
had  to  submit  often  ruined  him,  and  if  obliged  to  sell  his 
patrimony,  he  had  not  even  the  privilege  allowed  him  of 
selling  out  by  a  license  of  alienation. §  A  slavery  so  compli- 
cated and  extensive  called  for  a  remedy. 

The  relief,  which  originally  was  no  more  than  a  present, 
at  the  pleasure  of  the  vassal  on  entering  his  fief,  was  con- 
solidated into  a  right.  An  expression  of  gratitude  was 
converted  into  a  burden.  The  superior,  before  the  heir 
entered  on  his  land,  made  an  exaction  of  him,  in  which 
he  had  no  rule  but  his  rapacity.  His  demand  was  exor- 
bitant. If  the  fine  of  redemption  was  unpaid  or  delayed, 

*  The  king  was  the  guardian  of  the  orphan  children  of  his  nobles. 

•|-  LIVERY,  the  ceremony  of  delivering  to  an  heir  his  estate,  and  releasing 
the  lord  from  wardship  5  it  is  also  the  form  and  color  of  the  dress  of  servants, 
to  distinguish  them  from  others. 

J  Charles  I  was  the  last  monarch  to  exercise  this  custom  of  finding  a  part- 
ner in  marriage  for  his  ward. 

$  LHENSE,  in  law  is  authority  granted  to  do  some  act.  ALIENATION,  a 
transfer  of  lands  and  tenements  to  another. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  95 

the  superior  continued  the  possession  of  the  estate.  This 
produced  discontent  which  was  not  regarded. 

The  marriage  of  the  vassal  was  a  ruinous  perquisite,  and 
the  superior  could  give  his  vassal  to  whom  he  pleased.  If 
the  vassal  married  without  the  consent  of  the  superior,  it 
involved  the  forfeiture  of  the  estate.  The  vassal  could 
only  purchase  a  right  to  marry  whom  he  pleased.  It  was 
the  rule  that  the  heir  should  not  be  married  to  his  dispar- 
agement ;  but  this  rule  was  overlooked  in  the  violence  of 
the  times.  The  vassal  had  no  relief  but  in  remonstrance. 

When  the  lord  exercised  his  authority  over  his  female 
ward  he  paid  no  heed  to  her  affections  and  made  her  sub- 
mit to  embraces  unsanctioned  by  love.  It  was  a  means  of 
oppression  and  ferocious  cruelty.  Her  beauty  was  to  lose 
its  sweetness,  and  her  heart  its  enjoyment,  to  gratify  avarice. 
Her  relations  had  to  buy  from  the  tyrant  exemption  from 
his  unfeeling  exactions  and  base  demands. 

The  aid,  the  vassal  bestowed  out  of  benevolence,  to  re- 
lieve the  distress,  to  assist  the  grandeur  of  his  lord,  became 
a  burden,  a  tax,  a  misery,  and  enforced  as  a  duty.  Aids 
were  required  on  the  most  frivolous  pretenses.  When  the 
cro%n  or  lord  was  disposed  to  be  oppressive,  they  could 
find  a  reason  for  an  aid,  which  was  to  affect  every  mo- 
ment the  subsistence  of  the  vassal. 

Cowardice,  dishonor,  treachery,  or  treason,  were  causes 
for  escheat.  With  the  progress  of  time  lesser  delinquencies, 
disagreements,  trespasses,  and  trifles,  were  to  multiply  and 
be  causes  of  forfeiture  of  the  fief.  If  the  vassal  refused  to 
attend  the  court  of  the  superior,  o*  take  the  oath  of  fealty  ; 
or  infringe  the  oath  \  or  if  he  foresaw  any  act  or  misfortune 
that  was  to  befall  his  lord,  and  not  inform  him  ;  if  he  should 
make  love  to  his  wife  or  daughter,  caress  his  unmarried  sis- 
ter; these  and  other  reasons  still  more  absurd,  were  to  for- 


96  THE  LABORER; 

feit  the  estate  to  the  superior,  and  involve  the  ruin  of  the 
vassal  and  his  family. 

These  causes  were  to  destroy  the  cordiality  that  existed 
between  the  lord  and  his  vassal.  The  conditions  of  the 
fief  were  still  obligatory,  and  the  vassal  could  not  renounce 
his  ties  without  forsaking  his  importance.  His  property 
and  subsistence  fastened  him  to  an  enemy,  whom  he  was  to 
reverence.  The  vassal  had  to  do  military  duties.  With  a 
cold  heart  he  buckled  on  his  armor,  to  follow,  with  reluc- 
tance, the  march  of  his  chief.  Of  old,  it  had  been  the  am- 
bition to  carry  all  his  strength  against  an  enemy,  that  he 
might  display  his  own  greatness,  and  add  to  the  magnifi- 
cence of  his  superior.  He  now  furnished  unwillingly  the 
assistance  that  he  was  bound  to  give.  The  fervor  that  he 
once  displayed  in  advancing  the  ambitious  plans  of  his  lord 
was  to  cease. 

The  contentions  between  the  nobles  and  his  vassals,  was 
to  work  important  changes  in  the  structure  of  human  so- 
ciety. The  king  had  often  designs  of  his  own  to  carry  out, 
it  might  be  a  new  conquest,  or  to  gratify  splendor  and 
magnificence,  which  would  require  aids  from  the  nobles, 
the  collection  of  which  might  be  easier  with  disaffectecfvas- 
sals.  The  king,  by  favoring  his  nobles'  vassals,  strength- 
ened his  own  power,  and  is  the  source  no  doubt  of  gaining 
uncontrolled  power,  and  a  cause  of  fiefs  being  hereditary  to 
be  held  by  annual  rents  and  taxes,  instead  of  knightservice. 


CHAPTER  V. 


PARLIAMENTS    AND    COMMONS. 

PARLIAMENTS  A  RESULT  OF  CONGEST — THE  DISPUTES  OF  KINGS  AND  NOBLES 
A  CAUSC  OF  PARLIAMENTS — ORIGIN  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  COMMONS — AN  AS- 
SEMBLY OF  MEN  TO  SAVE  THEMSELVES  FROM  BEING  PLUNDERED. 

"It  is  better  to  be  a  great  statesman  than  a  common  thief."— JONATHAN  WILD. 

JEUDALISM  has  displaced  barbarism  or  rude  so- 
ciety. Before  it  was  introduced  into  England  the 
rich  and  the  great  lived  in  stone  houses,  without 
glass  in  the  windows,  or  plaster  on  the  walls.  The  sleep- 
ing place  was  a  recess  in  the  wall  filled  with  straw.  To 
hide  the  naked  walls,  in  the  Middle  Ages  the  ladies  hung 
up  tapestry  or  embroidered  cloth.  The  Bayeux  Tapestry, 
is  over  four  hundred  feet  long.  The  web  is  linen  while  the 
embroidery  is  woolen.  It  was  worked  with  a  needle,  and 
executed  with  labor  and  care.  This  work  is  attributed  to 
Matilda,  the  wife  of  William  the  Norman,  and  is  a  series  of 
designs,  illustrating  the  events  of  William's  life,  and  gives 
us  battle  scenes,  rural,  and  domestic  life.  Feudalism  has 
changed  this  scene,  and  given  to  a  few  magnificent  palaces, 
with  papered  walls,  carpeted  floors,  frescoed  ceilings,  carved 
furniture,  costly  food  and  wines,  waiting  servants,  grassy 
lawns,  and  sparkling  fountains.  These  scenes  are  before 
the  worker,  and  he  wishes  to  possess  them ;  yet  they  might 
never  have  existed  had  no  force  been  employed,  which  is 
hunger  and  want,  caused  by  idlers  eating  up  the  food  of  the 

(97) 


THE  LABORER; 

workers.  Hunger  and  a  sight  of  wealth  are  powerful  mo- 
tives to  quicken  the  energies  of  man. 

In  sight  of  the  glittering  mansion  are  to  be  seen  boys, 
who  tie  on  their  rags  with  ropes,  which  are  all  they  possess. 
Some  of  these  boys  sleep  in  water  pipes,  the  park  roller,  and 
in  trees.*  "A  widow,  residing  in  Robert  Street,  was 
found  by  some  of  her  neighbors  in  a  starving  condition. 
She  occupied  a  room  to  herself,  and  she  was  so  far  reduced 
in  strength,  that  she  could  not  cook  food  if  she  had  abun- 
dance, "f  To  remedy  the  ills  of  life,  men  must  be  taught 
to  practice  useful  labor.  Legislation  can  not  abolish  the 
evils  of  life.  To  prove  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  know 
something  of  the  history  of  legislation,  and  for  what  pur- 
pose it  was  introduced  into  the  world.  Many  suppose  that 
governments  are  to  protect  the  weak ;  they  are  contrivances 
of  men  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  toiler. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  blood-stained  warriors  of 
the  conqueror  could  agree  among  themselves,  or  they  could 
make  a  subjugated  people  submit  to  their  unfeeling  de- 
mands, hence  the  necessity  of  a  parliament,  which  comes 
from  the  Latin  word  parley — to  talk. 

The  original  or  first  institution  of  parliaments  is  one  of 
these  matters  that  lie  far  hidden  in  the  Dark  Ages  of  an- 
tiquity. Their  tracing  out  is  a  thing  difficult  and  uncertain. 
It  signifies  a  place  where  men  meet  to  settle  difficulties. 
King  Alfred  ordained  for  a  perpetual  usage:  "  That  these 
councils  should  meet  twice  a  year,  to  treat  of  the  govern- 
ment of  God's  people ;  and  how  they  should  keep  them- 
selves from  sin,  and  live  in  quiet,  and  do  right." 

There  seems  in  early  periods  of  time  to  have  been  a  con- 
stant struggle  between  kings,  lords,  and  the  people  to  gain 
the  ascendancy.  This  same  disposition  still  exists.  In 

*  London  paper,     f  Cincinnati  Commercial,  of  January  1 7th,   1867 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  99 

many  countries  the  king  rules  without  assembling  parlia- 
ments. His  word  is  law,  from  which  there  can  be  no  appeal. 
The  nobles  are  turbulent,  and  think  themselves  as  good  as 
the  king,  and  they  do  not  submit  willingly  to  his  authority. 
They  court  the  good-will  of  the  people  to  match  the  king. 
The  king,  on  the  other  hand,  grants  the  people  all  the  fa- 
vors he  can  so  as  to  be  able  to  rule  the  nobles.  Parliaments 
are  only  compromises  between  kings  and  nobles  to  plunder 
the  people,  aided  by  unprincipled  men  who  desert  from  the 
class  that  keep  the  race  from  perishing  by  useful  labors. 
It  is  the  soldiers  and  policemen  that  keep  the  people  from 
ruling  and  obtaining  the  happiness  that  is  their  due. 

William  at  first  tried  to  rule  his  people  without  parlia- 
ments. His  wars  in  Normandy  required  money,  and  the 
tenure  upon  which  land  was  held  was  not  sufficient  to  fur- 
nish supplies.  This  compelled  William  to  call  a  meeting  of 
his  barons  to  obtain  money  from  them. 

In  America,  the  land  of  freedom,  is  to  be  seen  and  felt 
the  spirit  of  feudalism,  which  makes  men  so  unequal  in 
their  condition.  Look  at  Astor,  his  income  is  $3,000  a  day. 
A  farm  laborer  has  to  work  six  years  to  earn  this  sum,  and 
it  will  take  him  fifteen  years  to  save  this  amount.  Another 
evidence  of  the  spirit  of  feudalism  among  us,  is  to  see,  in 
large  cities  men,  wearing  a  livery,  with  clubs  in  their  hands. 
Another  evidence  is  to  see  a  large  stone  jail  with  a  victim 
suspended  on  a  gallows,  to  atone  for  a  fault  that  would  not 
have  happened  had  better  circumstances  been  thrown  in 
his  pathway.  The  miseries  of  mankind  arise  from  a  few 
growing  rich, doing  nothing  and  lessening  the  clothing  and 
food  of  others  who  are  industrious.  Had  the  Fathers  of 
the  Revolution  given  to  those  who  were  willing  to  settle 
the  uncultivated  lands,  a  hundred  acres  and  no  more,  and 
only  to  the  cultivators,  the  painful  contrasts  that  we  see 


TOO  THE  LABORER; 

in  human  society  would  not  have  been  known  or  even  felt. 

This  pleasing  description  of  a  colony  shows  that  a  com- 
munity is  better  without  ruling  powers,  who  eat  up  the  sub- 
stance of  the  people  and  cause  crime.  "It  was  in  1604, 
that  the  French  settled  in  Acadia,  [opposite  the  state  of 
Maine,]  four  years  before  they  had  built  the  smallest  hut  in 
Canada.  Instead  of  fixing  toward  the  east  of  the  penin- 
sula, where  they  could  have  had  plenty  of  cod,  they  chose 
the  Bay  of  Fundy.  It  is  probable  that  the  founders  chose 
this  situation  on  account  of  furs.  At  their  first  arrival  in 
Acadia  they  found  the  peninsula  peopled  with  savages,  who 
were  called  Abenakies,  and  they  were  sociable  in  their  man- 
ners, and  became  enthusiasts  in  religion.  Whenever  hos- 
tilities took  place  between  England  and  France,  the  penin- 
sula was  attacked  and  ransacked  by  the  New  Englanders. 

No  magistrate  was  ever  appointed  to  rule  over  them. 
No  rents  or  taxes  were  ever  exacted  from  them.*  Their  lands 
yielded  wheat,  rye,  oats,  barley,  maize,  and  potatoes.  The 
meadows  were  covered  with  numerous  flocks.  Sixty  thou- 
sand head  of  horned  cattle  were  computed  to  be  there ;  and 
most  of  the  families  had  horses,  though  the  tillage  was  car- 
ried on  with  oxen. 

The  habitations,  built  entirely  of  wood,  were  extremely 
convenient,  and  furnished  as  neatly  as  any  farm-house  in 
Europe.  The  people  bred  a  great  deal  of  poultry  of  all  the 
kinds,  which  made  a  wholesome  variety  in  their  food,  which 
was  in  general  wholesome  and  abundant.  Their  common 
drink  was  beer  and  cider.  Their  clothing  was,  in  general, 
the  produce  of  their  own  flax  and  fleeces.  With  these  they 
made  common  linens  and  coarse  cloths.  Articles  of  lux- 

*  This  picture  of  happiness  was  universal  over  the  colonies.  Criminals,  or 
poor  people  were  hard  to  find ;  the  change  may  be  attributed  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  National  Government. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  101 

ury  they  procured  from  Annapolis,  in  exchange  for  corn, 
cattle,  or  furs.  The  French  had  no  articles  to  dispose  of 
among  their  neighbors,  and  still  fewer  exchanges  among 
themselves,  because  each  separate  family  was  able,  and 
had  been  used  to  provide  for  its  wants.  They,  therefore, 
knew  nothing  of  paper  currency,  which  was  so  common  in 
the  rest  of  North  America.  Even  the  small  quantity  of 
specie  which  had  stolen  into  the  colony,  did  not  promote 
that  circulation  which  is  the  greatest  advantage  that  can 
be  derived  from  it. 

"Their  manners  were  extremely  simple.  There  never 
was  a  cause,  either  civil  or  criminal,  of  enough  importance 
to  be  carried  before  the  court  of  judicature*  established  at 
Annapolis.  Whatever  little  differences  arose  from  time 
to  time  among  them,  were  amicably  adjusted  by  their  elders. 
All  their  public  acts  were  drawn  by  their  pastors,  who  had 
likewise  the  keeping  of  their  wills,  for  which,  and  their  re- 
ligious services,  the  inhabitants  gave  them  a  twenty-seventh 
part  of  their  harvests. 

"  There  was  a  sufficiency  to  fulfill  every  act  of  liberality. 
Real  misery  was  entirely  unknown,  and  benevolence  prevented 
the  demands  of  poverty.  Every  misfortune  was  relieved,  as 
it  were,  before  it  could  be  felt;  and  good  was  universa.ly 
dispensed,  without  ostentation  on  the  part  of  the  giver,  and 
without  humiliating  the  person  who  received  it.  These 
people  were,  in  a  word,  a  society  of  brethren,  every  indi- 
vidual of  which  was  equally  ready  to  give  and  receive  what 
he  thought  the  common  right  of  mankind. 

tc  So  perfect  a  harmony  naturally  prevented  all  those  con- 
nections of  gallantry  which  are  so  often  fatal  to  the  peace 
of  families.  There  never  was  an  instance  in  this  society 

*  This  court  was  established  by  the  English,  to  whom  the  French  nation 
ceded  Acadia.  This  virtuous  people  had  no  use  for  courts. 

10 


IO2  THE  LABORER; 

of  an  unlawful  commerce  between  the  two  sexes.  This 
evil  was  prevented  by  early  marriages  ;  for  no  one  passed  his 
youth  in  a  state  of  celibacy.  As  soon  as  the  young  man  came 
to  the  proper  age  the  community  built  him  a  house,  broke 
up  the  lands  about  it,  sowed  them,  and  supplied  him  with  all 
the  necessaries  of  life  for  twelve  months.  Here  he  received 
the  partner  he  had  chosen,  and  who  brought  him  her  por- 
tion in  flocks.  This  new  family  grew  and  prospered  like 
the  others.  They  all  together  numbered  18,000  souls. 

"Who  will  not  be  affected  with  the  innocent  manners 
and  the  tranquillity  of  this  fortunate  colony  ?  Who  will  not 
wish  for  the  duration  of  its  happiness  ?  Who  will  not  con- 
struct, in  imagination,  an  impenetrable  wall,  that  may  separ- 
ate these  colonists  from  their  unjust  and  turbulent  neigh- 
bors ?  The  calamities  of  the  people  may  have  no  period  ; 
but,  on  the  contrary  the  end  of  their  felicity  is  always  at 
hand.  A  long  series  of  favorable  events  is  necessary  to 
raise  them  from  misery,  while  one  instant  is  sufficient  to 
plunge  them  into  it.  May  the  Acadians  be  excepted  from 
this  general  curse !  but,  alas !  it  is  to  be  feared  that  they 
will  not. 

"Great  Britain  perceived,  in  1749,  of  what  consequence 
the  possession  of  Acadia  might  be  to  her  commerce.  The 
peace  furnished  an  opportunity  by  the  disbanding  of  the 
troops  for  cultivating  a  vast  territory.  The  British  min- 
istry offered  particular  advantages  to  all  who  chose  to  go 
over  and  settle  in  Acadia.  Every  soldier,  sailor,  and  work- 
man was  to  have  fifty  acres  for  himself  and  ten  for  each 
of  his  family — the  land  to  be  tax  free  for  ten  years.  The 
government  found  a  passage,  built  a  house,  gave  imple- 
ments of  industry,  and  subsistence  for  a  year.  These  en- 
couragements determined  3,750  persons  to  go  to  America. 
These  new  inhabitants  founded  Halifax,  in  1749.  Some 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  103 

disturbances  began  to  break  out  among  the  neutral  French. 
These  people,  whose  manners  were  so  simple,  and  who  en- 
joyed such  liberty,  had  already  perceived  that  their  inde- 
pendence must  necessarily  suffer  from  encroachments  from 
any  power  that  should  turn  its  views  to  the  countries  they 
inhabited.  To  this  apprehension  was  added  that  of  seeing 
their  religion  in  danger.  This  determined  the  happy  Ameri- 
can colony  to  quit  their  habitations  and  remove  to  New 
France,  where  lands  were  offered  them.  This  resolution 
many  of  them  executed  immediately ;  the  rest  prepared  to 
follow  as  soon  as  they  had  provided  for  their  safety. 

"This  the  English  government  either  from  policy  or  ca- 
price, determined  to  prevent  by  an  act  of  treachery — a 
base  and  cruel  course  in  those  whose  power  gives  them  an 
opportunity  of  pursuing  milder  methods.  Under  a  pretense 
of  exacting  a  renewal  of  the  oath  which  they  had  taken  at 
the  time  of  their  becoming  English  subjects,  they  called  to- 
gether all  the  remaining  inhabitants,  and  put  them  on  board 
of  a  ship.  They  were  conveyed  to  the  other  English  colo- 
nies, where  the  greater  part  of  them  died  of  grief. 

"  Such  are  the  effects  of  national  jealousies,  and  the  ra- 
pacity of  governments,  to  which  men  as  well  as  their  property, 
becomes  a  prey.  Can  it  be  said  after  this,  that  policy  and 
society  were  instituted  for  the  happiness  of  mankind  ?  They 
were  instituted  to  screen  the  wicked,  and  to  secure  the 
powerful"  * 

Hume,  in  his  History  of  England,  says :  "  Feudalism  was 
a  huge  fabric,  which  for  several  centuries  preserved  such  a 
mixture  of  liberty  and  oppression,  order  and  anarchy,  sta- 
bility and  revolution  as  was  never  experienced  before — a 
system  to  secure  conquests  against  the  revolt  of  numerous 
subjects  and  tribes.  The  prince  was  nothing  but  a  great 

ABBE  RAYNAL'S  History  of  the  Settlement  of  the  West  Indfes,Vol.  V,  p.  3  50. 


IO4  THE  LABORER; 

chieftain,  who  derived  his  power  on  account  of  his  nobility 
or  valor,  and  from  the  attachment  of  other  chiefs.  He 
seized  the  conquered  lands,  and  kept  a  large  share  for  him- 
self. To  support  his  dignity  he  granted  lands  to  his  chiefs ; 
these  made  a  new  partition  among  their  retainers,  under 
the  name  of  fiefs,  on  condition  they  take  the  field  in  defense 
of  the  nation.  The  conquerors  separated  that  they  might 
enjoy  their  new  acquisition.  They  soon  became  attached 
to  their  lands  and  made  improvements.  To  lose  their  pos- 
session, to  be  expelled  for  not  submitting  to  another's  will, 
made  them  wish  for  a  change,  so  as  the  family  could  not 
be  left  to  want  by  death.  Fiefs  were  made  hereditary  in 
families,  and  descended  to  sons,  grandsons,  brothers,  and 
more  distant  relations.  The  idea  of  property  stole  gradu- 
ally upon  that  of  military  pay  ;  and  each  century  made  some 
additions  to  the  stability  of  fiefs. 

"In  all  these  changes  the  chief  was  supported  by  his  vas- 
sals— by  constant  intercourse  and  friendship,  arising  from 
dependence,  they  followed  their  leader  against  all  his  ene- 
mies. The  authority  of  the  sovereign  gradually  decayed  ; 
and  each  noble,  assisted  by  his  vassals  in  his  own  territory, 
became  too  powerful  to  be  expelled  by  an  order  from  the 
throne. 

"The  king,  therefore,  when  he  found  it  necessary  to  de- 
mand any  service  of  his  chief  tenants  or  barons,  beyond 
what  was  due  by  their  tenures,  was  obliged  to  assemble 
them,  in  order  to  obtain  their  consent.  The  question  was 
discussed  and  decided  among  them.  In  these  two  circum- 
stances of  consent  and  advice  consisted  chiefly  the  civil 
services  of  the  ancient  barons,  and  these  implied  all  the 
considerable  incidents  of  government.  No  momentous  af- 
fairs could  be  transacted  without  their  consent  or  advice,  it 
.gave  security  to  their  possessions  and  dignitaries. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  105 

"The  barons  had  their  courts,  and  presided  like  the  king 
over  the  nobles.  It  was  requisite  to  assemble  the  vassals, 
in  order  to  determine  by  their  vote  any  question  which  re- 
garded the  barony  ;  and  they  sat  along  with  the  chief  in  all 
his  trials,  whether  civil  or  criminal,  which  occurred  within 
the  limits  of  their  jurisdiction.  The  vassals  were  bound  to 
pay  suit  at  the  court  of  their  baron ;  and  as  their  tenure 
was  considered  honorable,  because  military,  they  were  ad- 
mitted into  his  society  and  shared  his  friendship.  Thus 
was  a  kingdom  considered  a  great  barony,  and  a  barony  as 
a  small  kingdom.  The  barons  were  peers  to  each  other  in 
the  national  council,  and  in  some  degree  companions  to  the 
king.  The  vassals  were  peers  to  each  other  in  the  court  of 
barony,  and  companions  to  their  barons. 

"  The  vassal  fell  under  greater  subordination  to  the  baron 
than  the  baron  under  the  sovereign,  which  tended  to  aug- 
ment the  power  of  the  nobles.  The  great  chief  fortifying 
his  country  seat,  lost  a  part  of  his  acquaintance  with  the 
prince,  and  added  new  force  to  his  authority  over  the  vas- 
sals of  his  barony.  They  received  a  military  education  at 
his  hand,  hospitality  in  his  hall,  retainers  on  his  person, 
and  partakers  of  his  sports  and  amusements.  Their  ambition 
was  gratified  by  a  position  in  his  train,  his  favor  was  their 
honor,  his  displeasure  was  ignominy,  and  he  was  their  pro- 
tection in  controversies  with  other  vassals,  and  in  the  daily 
inroads  and  injuries  of  other  barons. 

41  The  feudal  government  was  destructive  of  the  security 
and  independence  of  other  members  of  the  state.  A  great 
part  were  serfs  and  lived  in  a  state  of  absolute  villainage  or 
slavery.  The  other  inhabitants  of  the  country  paid  their 
rents  in  services,  which  were  in  a  great  measure  arbitrary, 
and  they  could  get  no  redress  of  injuries,  in  a  court  of 
barony,  from  men  who  had  no  right  to  tyrannize  and  oppress 


106  THE  LABORER; 

them.  The  barons  lived  in  rustic  plenty,  and  gave  no  en- 
couragement to  the  arts  or  elaborate  manufactories.  Every 
profession  was  held  in  contempt  but  that  of  arms.  The 
industrious  and  opulent  merchant  was  often  exposed  to  in- 
jury from  the  envy  of  the  nobles. 

"The  great  baron  always  was  submissive  to  the  prince, 
so  that  he  might  have  resource  to  him  if  necessary  in  exact- 
ing submission  from  his  own  vassals.  Adherence  to  the 
crown  protected  from  injury  and  powerful  neighbors,  and 
promoted  the  execution  of  more  general  and  equal  laws. 
The  people  had  a  still  stronger  interest  to  desire  the  gran- 
deur of  the  sovereign — the  king  being  the  legal  magis- 
trate, who  suffered  by  every  internal  convulsion,  and  who 
regarded  the  great  nobles  as  his  immediate  rivals.  The 
king  assumed  the  salutary  office  of  general  guardian,  or  pro- 
tector of  the  commons.  Besides  the  prerogatives  with  which 
the  law  invested  him,  his  large  demesnes  and  numerous  re- 
tainers rendered  him  in  one  sense  the  greatest  baron  in  the 
kingdom  and  the  fountain  of  law  and  justice. 

"What  preserved  the  first  Norman  kings  from  the  en- 
croachments of  the  barons  was,  they  were  generals  and 
had  to  secure  themselves  from  the  revolt  of  the  numerous 
natives,  whom  they  had  bereaved  of  all  their  properties  and 
privileges.  William  and  his  immediate  successors  were 
absolute  ;  it  was  lost  as  soon  as  the  Norman  barons  began 
to  incorporate  with  the  nation,  to  acquire  a  security  in  their 
possessions,  and  to  fix  their  influence  over  their  vassals, 
tenants,  and  slaves.  The  immense  fortunes  which  the 
Conqueror  had  bestowed  on  his  chief  captains,  served  to 
support  their  independence,  and  to  make  them  formidable 
to  the  sovereign. 

"William  gave  to  Hugh  de  Abrinces,  the  county  of 
Chester,  and  rendered  his  grant  almost  independent  of  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  107 

crown.  The  Earl  of  Montaigne  had  937  manors;  Earl  of 
Brittany  442 ;  Odo  Bishop  of  Bayieux  439 ;  Bishop  of 
Constance  280;  Earl  of  Buckingham  107;  Earl  of  War- 
renne  298.  These  are  only  a  few  who  had  princely  reve- 
nues. It  was  difficult  to  retain  them  as  subjects.  Earl  of 
Warrenne,  in  a  subsequent  reign,  was  questioned  on  the 
right  to  his  lands,  drew  his  sword,  which  he  produced  as  his 
title;  adding  that  William  did  not  conquer  the  kingdom 
himself,  but  that  the  barons,  and  his  ancestor  among  the 
rest,  were  joint  adventurers  in  the  enterprise. 

"The  executive  power"  of  the  government  was  in  the 
king.  The  stated  meetings  of  the  Council  or  Parliament 
was  at  Christmas,  Easter,  and  Whitsuntide.  The  king 
could  summon  them  together  at  any  time,  the  whole  judi- 
cial* power  was  in  his  hands,  and  was  exercised  by  officers 
and  ministers  of  his  appointment. 

"  The  general  plan  of  the  Norman  government  was,  that 
the  court  of  baronyf  was  appointed  to  decide  controversies 
between  vassals.  The  hundred  or  county  court  J  could 
judge  subjects  of  different  baronies — the  king's  court  to 
give  sentence  among  the  barons  themselves.  The  king  of- 
ten sat  in  his  court,  heard  causes,  and  gave  decisions.  The 
various  courts  that  now  exist  have  sprung  from  these. 

"  From  the  two  lower  courts  there  could  be  appeals  to 
the  king's  court,  and  by  that  means  the  administration  of 
justice  was  brought  into  the  hands  of  the  sovereign.  And, 
lest  the  expense  of  the  journey  or  trouble  to  court  should 
discourage  suitors,  and  make  them  acquiesce  in  the  decis- 
ions of  the  inferior  judicatures,  itinerating  judges  were  ap- 

*  JUDICIAL,  what  pertains  to  a  court  of  justice,  or  the  distribution  of  justice. 

f  COURT- BARON,  a  baron's  court,  or  manor  court.    The  lord  was  the  judge. 

J  CouNTvCouRT,  a  court  limited  to  a  county,  and  its  powers  are  now  the 
statutes  of  the  land.  COUNTY,  the  territory  of  a  count  or  earl.  Now  a  partic- 
ular part  of  a  state  or  kingdom,  set  apart  for  the  administration  of  justice. 


io8  THE  LABORER; 

pointed,  who  made  circuits  throughout  the  kingdom,  and 
tried  all  causes  brought  before  them.  The  lawyers  gradu- 
ally brought  all  business  before  the  king's  judges."* 

The  Norman  kings  made  considerable  progress  in  gradu- 
ally getting  revenues.  There  were  eighteen  sources  of  rev- 
enue, many  of  which  have  passed  away,  and  the  king  is  de- 
pendent for  support  on  the  people,  through  the  Parliament. 
First  source  of  revenue  was  the  crown  lands,  which  were 
very  extensive.  Second  source  of  revenue  was  the  charge 
of  the  temporalities  of  the  bishops.  Third,  was  a  pension 
from  every  abbey  founded  by  royal  benevolence.  Fourth , 
was  the  first-fruits  and  tenths  of  all  spiritual  preferments. 
Fifth,  rents  of  manors.  Sixth,  purveying  which  means  when 
the  king  went  on  a  journey  he  sent  out  purveyorsf  to  levy 
on  provisions  for  himself  and  household.  As  this  led  to 
abuses.  Charles  I  had  it  commuted  to  fifteen  pence  on 
every  barrel  of  beer  that  was  brewed  in  the  kingdom,  on 
him  and  his  heirs  forever.  Seventh,  on  licenses  for  selling 
wine.  This  was  commuted  to  ,£7,000  a  year  by  statute  of 
Geo.  II.  Eighth,  was  from  timber  in  forests.  Ninth,  was 
from  courts  of  justice.  Tenth,  the  royal  fish,  which  are 
the  whale  and  sturgeon,  thrown  ashore  or  caught  near  the 
shore  ;  this  was  granted  on  consideration  of  protecting  the 
coast  from  robbers  and  pirates.  The  remaining  sources  of 
revenues  were  a  right  to  mines,  wrecked  ships,  forfeited 
goods,  treasure-trove,;);  waifs,  estrays,  estates  that  have  no 
heirs,  the  care  of  the  estates  of  minor  lords.  The  present 
sovereign  gets  £  900,000  a  year,  which  is  collected  by  the 
House  of  Commons  who,  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  rented 
the  crown  lands,  or  rather  gave  them  away  on  very  easy 

*  See  article  Feudalism,  Hume's  History  of  England. 

f  PURVEYOR,  an  officer  who  used  to  exact,  or  provide  the  king  with  food. 

^TREASURE-TROVE,  money  found  hidden  in  the  earth,  the  owner  unknown. 


This  well-clad  man  is  setting  this  poor  feeble,  boy  to  sweeping  before  his  man- 
sion to  pay  for  his  new  broom.  It  is  self-evident,  if  this  boy's  father  was  a  builder 
on  this  stone-paneled,  and  finely-carved  building,  he  would  be  poor,  and  leave  his 
children  bitter  poverty.  Reflection  should  teach  laboring  people  that  the  division 
of  society  into  poor  and  rich  classes  is  oppression,  and  should  cease.  In  becoming 
civilized  we  have  forsaken  the  plain  path  of  nature.  Many  of  the  pursuits  of  civ- 
ilization are  as  uncertain  as  those  of  the  savage,  to  yield  food  and  clothing.  The 
remedy  is,  each  one  should  labor  for  himself,  at  something  useful,  and  exchange 
equally  and  directly  with  other  useful  laborers.  This  ends  the  laborer's  wrongs. 

3 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  109 

terms.  The  means  used  to  collect  the  royal  salary  is  now 
called  the  extraordinary  revenues,  and  are  raised  by  aids,  sub- 
sidies* and  supplies. f 

The  king  was  never  contented  with  the  stated  rents,  hut 
levied  heavy  talliagesj  at  his  pleasure,  both  on  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  town  and  country.  He  pretended  to  exact  tolls 
on  goods  sold  in  the  market ;  he  took  two  hogsheads  of  wine 
from  every  vessel  that  imported  it — all  goods  paid  to  his 
customs  a  part  of  their  value.  A  passage  over  a  bridge  or 
river  was  loaded  with  tolls.  The  king  exacted  money  for 
the  renewal  of  charters,  and  the  people  were  held  in  per- 
petual dependence. 

The  barons  were  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  power, 
against  which  they  had  no  security.  The  Conqueror  or- 
dained that  the  barons  should  pay  nothing  beyond  their 
stated  services,  except  a  reasonable  aid  to  ransom  his  person 
if  he  were  taken  in  war,  to  make  his  oldest  son  a  knight,  or 
to  marry  his  eldest  daughter.  What  should  on  these  oc- 
casions be  deemed  a  reasonable  aid,  was  not  determined, 
and  the  demands  of  the  crown  were  discretionary. 

The  king  could  in  war  require  the  personal  attendance 
of  his  vassals,  and  if  they  declined  the  service,  they  were 
obliged  to  pay  him  a  composition  in  money,  which  was 
called  a  scutage.§  This  sum,  was  during  some  reigns,  preca- 
rious and  uncertain;  it  was  sometimes  levied  without  allow- 
ing the  vassal  the  usual  liberty  of  personal  service ;  and  it 
was  an  artifice  of  the  king  to  pretend  to  an  expedition,  that 
he  might  be  entitled  to  levy  the  scutage  from  his  military 
tenants.  This  tax  was  one,  two,  or  three  marks  for  every 

*  SUBSIDY,  aid  in  money,  a  tax  to  assist  a  prince  in  place  of  personal  service 

'    •{•  SUPPLIES,  money  granted  by  English  Parliaments  for  public  expenditures. 

J  TALLIAGE,    to  cut  off,  to  share,  a  tax  or  toll  on  the  people  for  the  king. 

§  SCUTAGE,   a  contribution  from  the  knights  toward  furnishing  the  army. 


no  THE  LABORER; 

knight's  fee  [a  mark  is  135.  4<i.]  Henry  III,  for  his  voy- 
age to  the  Holy  Land,  had  a  scutage  of  three  marks  for 
every  knight's  fee.  This  word  comes  from  scutum,  a  shield, 
and  was  a  sum  paid  by  the  knight  to  the  king  so  as  he 
could  hire  soldiers  to  fill  his  place.  Moneyage  was  a  tax 
levied  by  the  two  first  Norman  kings  on  hearth-stones. 
It  was  a  shilling  each,  and  was  given  to  the  king  to  induce 
him  not  to  use  his  prerogative  to  debase  the  money.  These 
taxes  were  so  heavy,  that  William  of  Malmesbury  tells  us 
the  reign  of  William  Rufus,  the  farmers  abandoned  tillage, 
and  a  famine  ensued. 

The  escheats  were  a  great  source  of  profit,  especially 
during  the  first  reigns  after  the  conquest.  In  default  of 
posterity  from  the  first  baron,  his  land  reverted  to  the  crown, 
and  continually  augmented  the  king's  possessions.  The 
prince  had  the  power  of  alienating  these  escheats.  By  this 
means  he  had  opportunities  of  establishing  the  fortunes  of 
his  friends  and  servants,  and  thereby  enlarging  his  author- 
ity. Sometimes  he  retained  these  estates  in  his  own  hands. 
If  the  vassal  was  summoned  thrice  to  attend  his  superior's 
court ;  and  refused  obedience,  he  forfeited  all  title  to  his 
lands.  Denying  his  tenure,  refusing  his  services,  selling 
his  right  to  his  fief  without  liberty,  adhering  to  his  lord's 
enemies,  deserting  him  in  battle,  betraying  his  secrets,  de- 
bauching his  wife,  being  found  guilty  of  rape,  murder,  and 
arson,  he  lost  his  fief.  The  king  had  the  right  to  detain  his 
possession,  spoil  and  destroy  it,  till  the  baron  paid  a  reason- 
able compensation.  The  vassal's  possession  was  precarious. 
When  the  baron  died  the  king  took  possession  of  his  es- 
tate ;  the  heir  made  application  for  it,  by  doing  homage  a 
paying  a  fine.  This  practice  was  founded  on  the  notion, 
that  the  fief  was  a  benefice,  and  the  superior  was  to  be  paid' 
out  of  it  till  the  heir  became  of  age.  By  this  means  landed 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  in 

property  was  continually  in  the  hands  of  the  prince,  and 
noble  families  were  dependent  on  him.  He  could  enrich  a 
favorite  at  another's  expense.  Simon  de  Monfort  paid 
Henry  III  10,000  marks,  for  the  wardship  of  Gilbert  de 
Umfreville.  Geoffry  de  Mandeville  paid  20,000  marks 
[$6o,ooo,]  that  he  might  marry  the  Countess  of  Glouces- 
ter, and  possess  all  her  lands  and  knight's  fees. 

If  the  heir  was  a  female,  the  king  could  offer  her  any 
husband  he  thought  proper  of  her  own  rank ;  if  she  refused 
she  forfeited  her  lands.  Even  a  male  heir  could  not  marry 
without  the  royal  consent ;  and  it  was  usual  to  pay  large 
sums  for  the  privilege  of  making  a  choice.  None  could 
sell  lands  without  the  consent  of  the  superior,  who  held  it 
at  will.  In  course  of  time  these  lands  became  allodial*  or 
subject  to  an  annual  tax. 

Fines  were  sources  of  royal  revenues.  Records  are  pre- 
served giving  an  account  of  the  fines  levied  in  those  days. 
The  ancient  kings  of  England  were  like  the  barbarous  east- 
ern princes,  whom  no  man  must  approach  without  a  pres- 
ent. Permission  was  purchased  to  carry  on  business,  and 
also  to  extort  money.  Justice  was  bought  and  sold ;  the 
king's  court  was  not  open  to  those  who  did  not  bring  pres- 
ents. The  county  of  Norfolk,  and  the  boroughf  of  Yar- 
mouth paid  money  that  they  might  be  fairly  dealt  with. 
Richard,  son  of  Gilbert,  paid  the  king  for  helping  him  to 
recover  his  debts  from  the  Jews;  Serlo,  son  of  Terlarston, 
paid  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  make  a  defense,  if  he 
was  accused  of  homicide.  Robert  de  Essart,  paid  for  an 
inquest  to  find  out  if  Robert  the  butcher  accused  him  of 
robbery  out  of  envy. 

*  ALLODIUM,  lands  allo  tted  or  portioned  off,  and   owned  by  the  cultivator. 

f  BOROUGH,  a  hill,  or  fortified  town.  In  Saxon  times  an  association  of  ten 
men,  who  were  pledged  to  the  king  for  the  good  behavior  of  each  other,  and 
was  called  a  tithing.  Ten  of  these  associations  formed  a  hundred,  or  a  county. 


U2  THE  LABORER; 

Sometimes  litigants  offered  the  king  a  half,  or  a  fourth, 
out  of  debts,which  he  as  the  executor  of  justice  might  help 
to  recover.  Theophania  de  Westland  agreed  to  pay  the 
half  of  212  marks  that  she  might  recover  from  James  de 
Fughleston.  Solomon  the  Jew  gave  one  mark  out  of  seven 
that  he  should  recover  out  of  Hugh  de  la  Hose. 

The  king  was  paid  for  a  permission  to  exercise  any  in- 
dustry. Hugh  Oisel  paid  400  marks  for  liberty  to  trade  in 
England.  Nigel  de  Haven  gave  fifty  marks  for  a  partner- 
ship in  merchandise  with  Gervase  de  Hanton.  Some  men 
of  Worcester  paid  100  shillings,  that  they  might  have  the 
liberty  of  selling  fine,  dyed  cloth.  The  whole  kingdom  was 
under  the  control  of  the  king.  He  created  guilds,*  corpora- 
tions^ and  monoplies  wherever  he  pleased,  and  levied  sums 
for  these  exclusive  privileges. 

There  was  no  profit  so  small  as  to  be  below  the  king's 
notice.  Henry,  son  of  Arthur,  gave  ten  dogs,  to  have  an 
acknowledgment  from  the  Countess  of  Copland.  Walter  le 
Madine  gave  two  Norman  hawks  that  he  might  have  leave 
to  export  a  hundred  weight  of  cheese  out  of  the  king's  do- 
minions. The  wife  of  Hugh  de  Neville  gave  two  hundred 
hens  for  a  visit  to  her  husband.  It  is  supposed  he  was  in 
prison.  The  abbot  of  Ruckford  paid  ten  marks  for  leave 
to  erect  houses  and  place  men  on  his  land,  to  secure  his 
wood  from  being  stolen.  Hugh,  the  archdeacon  of  Wells, 
gave  a  tun  of  wine  for  leave  to  carry  600  sums  of  corn 
wherever  he  would.  Peter  de  Peraris  gave  twenty  marks 
for  leave  to  salt  fishes. 

The  eldest  son  and  widow  of  Hugh  Bigond,  a  nobleman, 
came  to  the  court  of  Henry  II  and  offered  him  large  pres- 

*  GUILDS,  companies  of  men  carrying  on  some  pursuit  particularly  commerce. 

These  were  licensed  by  the  king,  and  governed  by  their  own  laws  and  orders. 

f  CORPORATIONS,  societies  acting  like  one  man  in  the  transaction  of  buisness. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  113 

ents  to  obtain  her  inheritance.  The  king  ordered  the  case 
to  be  tried  by  the  great  council ;  but,  in  the  meantime,  he 
seized  all  the  treasure  and  money  of  the  deceased.  Fines 
were  not  limited  by  law,  and  the  person  on  whom  they 
were  imposed  was  frequently  ruined.  The  forest  laws 
were  a  great  source  of  oppression.  The  king  possessed 
sixty-eight  forests,  thirteen  chases,  and  seven  hundred  parks, 
in  different  parts  of  England,  in  which  the  people  were  al- 
lured to  hunt,  and  then  punished  by  having  their  eyes  put 
out.  This  was  Norman  law. 

The  Jews  were  out  of  the  protection  of  the  law,  they 
were  abandoned  to  the  rapacity  of  the  king  and  his  minis- 
ters. It  appears  they  were  all  at  once  thrown  into  prison, 
and  the  sum  of  60,000  marks  was  exacted  for  their  liberty. 
Henry  III  borrowed  4,000  marks  from  the  Earl  of  Corn- 
wall ;  and  for  his  repayment  consigned  to  him  all  the  Jews 
in  England.  There  was  a  particular  kind  of  Exchequer 
set  apart  for  managing  revenue  derived  from  the  Jews. 

Sir  Henry  Spellman  says:  "During  the  reign  of  the  first 
Norman  kings,  every  edict  that  came  from  them,  with  the 
consent  of  their  private  council,  had  the  full  force  of  law." 
It  appears  that  the  constitution  had  not  fixed  any  precise 
boundaries  to  the  royal  power ;  that  the  right  to  issue  pro- 
clamations on  any  emergency,  and  of  exacting  obedience 
to  them — a  right  which  was  always  supposed  inherent  in 
the  crown — is  very  difficult  to  be  distinguished  by  legisla- 
tive authority.  The  extreme  imperfections  of  the  ancient 
laws,  and  sudden  exigencies  that  have  often  occurred  in 
such  turbulent  governments,  obliged  the  prince  to  exert  fre- 
quently the  latent  powers  of  his  prerogative — that  he  natur- 
ally proceeded  from  the  acquiescence  of  the  people,  to  as- 
sume in  many  particulars  of  moment,  an  authority  from 
which  he  had  excluded  himself  by  express  statutes,  char- 


ii4  THE  LABORER; 

ters,  or  concessions,  which  was  repugnant  to  the  personal 
liberty  of  his  subjects.  It  appears  from  the  great  Charter 
itself,  that  John,  Richard,  and  Henry,  were  accustomed, 
from  their  sole  authority,  without  process  of  law,  to  imprison, 
banish,  and  attaint*  the  freemen  of  the  kingdom. 

A  great  baron  in  ancient  times  considered  himself  as  a 
kind  of  sovereign  within  his  territory  ;  and  was  attended  by 
courtiers  and  dependents  more  zealously  attached  to  him 
than  ministers  of  state.  He  often  maintained  in  his  court 
the  parade  of  royalty,  by  establishing  courts  over  which  he 
presided  with  constables,  f  marshals,  J  and  chancellors.  § 
He  was  assiduous  in  his  jurisdiction. ||  Delighting  in  the 
image  of  sovereignty,  it  was  necessary  to  restrain  his  activ- 
ity, and  keep  him  from  holding  his  courts  too  frequently. 
The  example  of  his  prince  in  mercenary  extortion  was  fre- 
quently copied,  his  justice  and  injustice  was  frequently  put 
to  sale.  He  had  the  power,  with  the  king's  consent  to 
exact  talli'ages  even  from  the  free  citizens  who  lived  in  his 
barony;  and  his  necessities  made  him  rapacious;  his  au- 
thority was  often  found  to  be  more  oppressive  and  tyran- 
nical than  that  of  the  sovereign.  He  was  ever  engaged  in 
hereditary  or  personal  animosities  or  confederacies  with  his 

*  ATTAINT,  stained,  blackened,  a  person  in  this  condition  was  not  considered 
fit  to  live,  but  to  be  exterminated  from  the  earth.  From  the  word  attinctus. 

j-  CONSTABLE,  an  officer  of  high  rank  in  the  middle  ages,  the  seventh  in  rank 
to  the  crown.  A  judge  in  chivalry,  of  deeds  of  arms,  combats,  and  blazonry. 

J  MARSHAL,  the  chief  officer  in  arms,  whose  duty  it  is  to  regulate  combats, 
rank  and  order  at  a  feast,  or  assembly,  directs  the  king's  processions  and  feasts. 

$  CHANCELLOR,  the  highest  crown  officer,  he  has  judicial  power,  the  keeping 
of  the  king's  conscience,  seal,  charters,  and  writings  of  the  crown.  He  is  the 
private  counselor  of  the  House  of  Lords,  appointer  of  all  the  justices  of  peace, 
visitor  of  all  hospitals  and  colleges  founded  by  the  king,  a  guardian  of  the 
public  charities,  and  a  judge  of  the  high  Court  of  Chancery.  Enough  to  do. 

II  JURISDICTION,  a  power  to  hear  complaints,  execute  laws,  and  distribute 
justice.  Jurisdiction  is  limited  to  a  particular  place  or  territory,  and  persons. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  115 

neighbors,  and  often  gave  protection  to  desperate  adven- 
turers and  criminals,  who  could  be  useful  in  serving  his  vio- 
lent purposes.  He  was  able  alone  in  times  of  tranquillity, 
to  obstruct  the  execution  of  justice  within  his  territories ; 
and,  by  combining  with  a  few  malcontent  barons  of  high 
rank  and  power,  he  could  throw  a  state  into  convulsions. 
Though  the  royal  authority  was  confined  within  narrow 
bounds,  yet  the  check  was  often  irregular  and  frequently 
the  scenes  of  great  disorders;  nor  was  it  derived  from  the 
liberty  of  the  people,  but  from  the  military  power  of  many 
tyrants,  who  were  equally  dangerous  and  oppressive  to  the 
subjects. 

The  concessions  of  the  Great  Charter  gave  birth,  by 
degrees,  to  a  new  species  of  government,  and  introduced 
some  order  and  justice  into  the  administration.  The  Great 
Charter  contained  no  new  establishment  of  new  courts, 
magistrates,  senates,  or  abolition  of  the  old.  It  introduced 
no  new  distribution  of  the  powers  of  the  commonwealth, 
and  no  innovation  in  the  political  or  public  law  of  the  king- 
dom. It  only  guarded,  and  that  merely  by  verbal  clauses, 
against  such  tyrannical  practices  as  are  incompatible  with 
civilized  governments.  The  barbarous  license  of  the  kings, 
and  perhaps  of  the  nobles,  was  thenceforth  more  restrained. 
Men  acquired  more  security  for  their  property  and  liberties, 
and  governments  approached  a  little  nearer  to  the  distribu- 
tion of  justice  and  the  protection  of  citizens.  Acts  of  vio- 
lence and  iniquity  in  the  crown,  which  before  were  only 
deemed  injurious  to  individuals,  and  were  hazardous  chiefly 
in  proportion  to  the  number,  power,  and  dignity,  of  the  per- 
sons affected  by  them,  were  now  regarded  as  public  injuries 
in  some  degree,  and  as  an  infringement  of  a  charter  calcu- 
lated for  general  security.  The  establishment  of  the  Great 
Charter  was  an  improvement  in  the  distribution  of  political 


n6  THE  LABORER; 

power,  the  source  of  a  mighty  change  in  the  customs  and 
usages  of  society,  and  in  the  constitution  of  England. 

There  was  a  struggle  between  the  king  and  his  barons 
for  supreme  power  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  after 
the  conquest.  The  introduction  of  the  Magna  Charta 
made  the  Parliament  the  source  of  power  instead  of  the 
king.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  this  change  has  been  of  any 
benefit  to  the  toiling  classes,  except  to  introduce  a  more 
systematic  method  of  plundering  them.  That  a  number 
of  men  in  gay  robes,  with  high  sounding  names,  in  a  gor- 
geous room,  sitting  in  stalls  and  on  woolsacks — that  these 
should  do  any  thing  to  lessen  the  labor  of  working  people 
is  not  to  be  expected.  Many  of  the  customs  and  usages 
of  the  conquest  are  still  in  existence. 

The  House  of  Commons  comes  from  the  lower  classes, 
who  lived  in  the  boroughs  and  towns.  These  were  told  to 
send  deputies  to  tell  how  much  they  were  worth  under  an 
oath,  and  then  grant  aids  to  the  king  in  his  wars,  and  then 
go  home  and  collect  them.  These  were  forced  or  sum- 
moned by  the  sheriffs*  when  they  came  with  their  aids,  re- 
liefs,  presents,  and  benevolences.  They  asked  for  relief  from 
the  wrongs  they  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  barons. 

Before  the  time  of  the  Stuarts  the  House  of  Commons 
was  summoned  at  the  pleasure  of  the  king,  or  when  an  aid 
was  wanted.  Deputies  were  to  assess  scutages  and  talliages, 
not  to  make  laws,  that  was  a  branch  of  the  royal  preroga- 
tive, and  exercised  by  the  summary  process  of  proclamation, 
not  by  illiterate  burgesses,  whom  it  was  assumed  might  be 
adepts  in  the  mysteries  of  trade,  and  not  sufficiently  learned 
for  the  high  task  of  legislation.  The  first  members  went 
with  reluctance,  and  received  wages  for  their  unpleasant 

*  SHERIFF,  an  officer  appointed  by  the  king,  to  execute  the  laws  in  an  earl- 
dom or  county  j  once  a  collector  of  the  king's  revenue — a  shire-reeve. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS. 


117 


duty.  All  sorts  of  evasions  were  practiced  to  avoid  sending 
representatives  to  the  Parliament;  some  pleaded  poverty, 
others  their  insignificance,  and  the  honorable  members  were 
often  constrained  by  force  to  appear  at  Westminster  or  Ox- 
ford, or  other  places  of  royal  residence.  The  whole  pro- 
ceeding was  analogous  to  what  takes  place  in  a  city  taken 
by  storm.  The  victorious  general  calls  together  the  inhab- 
itants not  to  make  laws  for  the  government  of  the  town, 
but  to  determine  how  great  a  sum  they  will  give  to  save  them- 
selves from  pillage.  And  so  it  continued  till  the  advent  of 
Hampden,  Pym,  Hollis,  Elliott,  and  other  master  minds, who 
claimed  for  the  Commons  a  nobler  and  more  independent 
vocation. 

It  is,  however,  a  contrivance  to  get  out  of  the  toiling 
classes  of  Great  Britain  the  annual  sum  of  $400,000,000. 
It  takes  from  him  who  labors  the  fruits  of  his  labor,  and 
gives  it  to  him  who  will  not  labor. 

To  trace  the  gradual  evolution  of  the  several  parts  of  the 
English  constitution ;  to  show  how  the  executive,  legislative, 
and  judicial  power  were  blended  and  clumsily  executed, 
and  how  they  became  separated,  defined,  and  secured  in  the 
exercise  of  their  respective  functions  by  ages  of  conflict  and 
trial,  is  a  curious  and  pleasing  subject  of  study  and  inquiry. 
It  is  the  progress  of  man  from  rudeness  to  an  abundance 
of  comforts  in  the  hands  of  a  few.  The  progress  of  society 
has  been  like  the  reclaiming  of  a  waste  country,  by  the  em- 
bankment of  its  rivers,  the  draining  of  its  morasses,  the 
cleaning  out  of  the  beasts  of  prey,  and  other  operations  by 
which  it  is  brought  into  a  state  of  security  and  productive- 
ness. Divesting  ourselves  of  the  illusions  of  antiquity,  it 
is  impossible  to  conceal  that  the  government  for  a  long 
period  was  a  simple  despotism,  occasionally  controlled  by 
the  interference  of  the  nobility  and  clergy.  The  first 


n8  THE  LABORER; 

regular  approach  to  constitutional  rule  was  the  grant  of  the 
Magna  Charta.  Doubtless  the  concessions  extorted  by  the 
barons  at  Runnymede  were  in  their  own  favor;  but  it  also 
contained  provisions  which  were  a  guide  and  a  sanction  for 
future  and  more  general  claims  of  freedom.  The  adoption 
of  such  an  instrument  denotes  a  progression  in  human  so- 
ciety. A  division  of  political  power  between  two  orders  in 
the  state  had  been  formally  recognized,  and  the  idea  of  pre- 
scribing their  respective  immunities  by  law  shows  the  time 
may  come  when  they  will  be  dispensed  with  altogether. 

Many  parts  of  the  great  charter  were  pointed  against  the 
abuses  of  the  power  of  the  king  as  lord  paramount.  But  it 
contains  a  few  maxims  of  just  governments,  applicable  to 
all  places  and  times.  For  almost  five  centuries  it  was  ap- 
pealed to  as  decisive  authority  on  the  people's  behalf,  though 
commonly  so  far  only  as  the  necessities  of  the  case  re- 
quired. This  continued  in  fashion  till  within  a  few  years  ; 
but  the  public  taste  has  altered,  and  it  is  more  common  for 
reformers  to  refer  to  principles  of  utility  than  to  constitu- 
tional authorities.* 

From  the  time  of  King  John  to  that  of  Charles  I,  the 
constitution  of  England  underwent  no  change  of  impor- 
tance, the  power  of  the  several  parts  of  which  it  consisted 
was  the  subject  of  contention,  but  it  was  not  fixed  or  ma- 
terially altered  by  any  public  act.  Important  movements 
have  taken  place  among  the  people,  and  the  silent  influence 
of  the  commonality  had  encroached  on  the  acts  of  the  no- 
bility. Vassalage  has  been  exterminated.  Manufactures 
have  extended  and  flourished.  Domestic  comforts  and 
great  luxuries  are  in  the  sight  of  all.f 

What  are  the  causes  that  made  Gov.  Hammond,  on  the 
Senate's  floor  of  the  "The  Great  Republic"  say:  "Your 

*  MACINTOSH'S  History  of  England,  Vol.  I,  p.  zz.     f  See  HUME'S  England. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  119 

daily  laborers  are  at  best  but  slaves."  It  is  because  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  land  are  so  contrived  that  a  few  can  obtain 
from  the  many,  unceasingly  and  unobserved,  large  quanti- 
ties of  human  labor  without  an  equivalent.  The  reason  is, 
we  follow  too  much  after  the  civil  institutions  of  other 
lands.  These  institutions  have  been  brought  about  in  this 
manner :  From  the  shores  of  the  Baltic  there  came  forth 
a  race  of  Sea  Kings  who  lived  in  their  ships,  and  went  to 
plundering  wherever  they  could  get  a  landing.  They  were 
a  very  great  terror  to  the  sea-coast  inhabitants  of  Europe. 
Those  who  were  in  fear  of  invasion  had  to  devise  means  of 
self-defense,  which  was  called  a  government.  When  the 
invaders  got  possession  of  a  country  they  instituted  a  gov- 
ernment also,  which  has  continued  to  this  day.  Those  who 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  civil  state  were  pirates  by  profes- 
sion, pagans  in  religion,  men  of  ferocity,  and  dauntless 
courage.  They  made  two  agreements — one  was  we  will 
plunder  the  people.  This  has  been  faithfully  observed,  and  is 
still  observed.  The  second  part  of  the  agreement  was  not  to 
plunder  each  other.  Kings  have  laid  gradually  exactions 
on  the  nobles,  who  have  re-laid  them  on  their  vassals.  The 
various  names  that  used  to  be  given  to  the  sources  of  rev- 
enue have  become  "rents"  and  "taxes."  The  villains' 
and  vassals  have  become  mechanics  and  laborers. 

Changes  have  been  made  in  the  social  condition  of  men 
at  first  the  king  ruled  absolute,  then  a  part  of  his  power  was 
taken  away  by  the  nobles.  The  priests  exercised  a  sway 
over  the  nobility.  Their  power  was  broken  at  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  These  were  succeeded  by  courtiers  and  court 
gallants,  who  have  used  an  influence  over  the  ruling  powers. 
From  the  time  of  William  III  to  the  present,  England  has 
been  influenced  by  policy  rulers,  or  political  economists. 
The  laborers  of  England  are  now  associating  themselves  to- 


I2O  THE  LABORER; 

gether  to  get  the  necessaries  of  life  at  cost  price,  without 
employing  merchants.  In  many  cases  the  workmen  are 
partners  in  the  workshops  and  mines  in  which  they  labor. 
These  facts  indicate  that  the  laborer  will  soon  displace  the 
other  classes  and  rule. 

Lord  Kames,  in  his  History  of  Man  says :  "  Had  the  Nor- 
wegians known  agriculture  in  the  tenth  century,  they  would 
not  have  ventured  their  lives  in  frail  vessels  upon  a  tempes- 
tuous ocean,  in  order  to  distress  nations  who  were  not  their 
enemies.  But  hunger  is  a  cogent  motive ;  and  it  gave  to 
these  pirates  superiority  in  arms  above  every  nation  that  en- 
joyed plenty  at  home.  Luckily  such  depredations  must 
have  their  intervals ;  as  they  necessarily  occasion  great  ha- 
voc among  the  victors.  Agriculture,  fixes  a  people  to  a 
spot,  is  an  obstacle  to  migration,  puts  an  end  to  a  scourge, 
more  destructive  than  a  pestilence.  It  gives  occupation  and 
subsistence  at  home;  it  affords  plenty  of  food." 

William  Walker  thought  in  Nicaragua  "That  society 
was  worn  out,  and  they  needed  a  new  organization,  and  it 
would  furnish  certain  labor  to  the  negro."  He  chartered 
a  vessel  in  California,  and  left  in  May,  1856,  with  fifty-eight 
passengers.  On  landing  he  began  to  levy  contributions,  this 
led  to  a  conflict — six  were  killed  and  twelve  wounded.  He 
would  have  succeeded  if  the  English  warships  had  let  him 
alone.  If  he  had  become  chief  ruler  he  could  have  used 
this  language :  "Dear  people,  I  will  establish  justice,  maintain 
order  among  you,  and  give  you  splendor  and  magnificence." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CITIES    AND    TOWNS. 

FEUDALISM  THE  CAUSE  OF  THE  GROWTH  OF  CITIES — A  PLACE  FOR  ESCAPING 
SLAVF.S— CITIES  ARE  NECESSARY  TO  IMPROVE  MEN— HANSEATIC  TOWNS — 
NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW  ON  CITIES — SUFFERING  IN  CITIES. 

"  When  we  are  piled  on  each  other  in  large  cities,  as  they  are  in  Europe,  we 
shall  become  corrupt,  and  go  to  eating  each  other." — THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 

|FTER  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  the  inhabi- 
tants of  cities  and  towns  were  not  any  more  fa- 
vored than  those  of  the  country.  They  were,  in- 
deed, of  a  very  different  order  of  people  from  the  first  in- 
habitants of  the  ancient  republics  of  Greece  and  Italy. 
These  last  were  composed  chiefly  of  the  proprietors  of  land, 
among  whom  the  public  land  was  divided,  and  who  found 
it  convenient  to  build  their  houses  in  the  neighborhood  of 
each  other,  and  to  surround  themselves  with  a  wall  for  de- 
fense. After  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  proprie- 
tors of  land  seem  generally  to  have  lived  in  fortified  castles 
on  their  own  estates,  and  in  the  midst  of  their  own  tenants 
and  dependants.  The  towns  were  chiefly  inhabited  by 
tradesmen  and  mechanics,  who  seem  to  have  been  in  a 
servile  condition. 

Britain,  once  a  land  of  savage  pagans,  was,  long  after  the 
Norman  conquest,  the  abode  of  ignorance  and  superstition. 
For  centuries  past  she  has  been  steadily  advancing  in 
knowledge,  civil  and  religious  liberty.  Her  men  of  letters 


122  THE  LABORER; 

have  sent  down  to  posterity  noble  works  that  shall  live  till 
science,  philosophy,  and  poetry  are  known  no  more.  Her 
lawyers  have  gradually  worn  off  the  rugged  features  of  the 
feudal  system,  till  the  common  law  of  England  has  been 
adopted  as  the  basis  of  the  American  code.  Her  spiritual 
bastile,  the  State  Church,  has  yielded  to  the  attacks  of  non- 
conformity, and  opened  its  gates  to  a  qualified  toleration. 
All  that  was  dangerous  in  the  maxim,  u  The  king  can  do 
no  wrong,'*  fell  with  the  head  of  Charles  I,  in  1649.  A 
class  of  innovators,  called  " Reformers"  are  still  at  work 
on  the  institutions  of  England. 

Humanity  will  find  ample  materials  for  despair,  when 
contemplating  the  toiling  classes  condition.  But  philan- 
trophy  will  find  abundant  source  of  hope  in  studying  the 
character  and  deeds  of  their  radical  reformers.  The  past 
half  century  has  seen  an  uprising,  of  the  very  substratum 
of  society,  in  a  peaceful  struggle  for  inherent  rights.  No 
force  has  been  employed  except  the  force  of  circumstan- 
ces ;  and  the  result  has  been  eminently  successful.  This 
class  discovered  its  strength  during  the  revolution  of  Ham- 
den  and  Cromwell,  and  received  an  impulse  which  it  has 
never  lost. 

The  nobility  and  gentry  have  too  often  silenced  the 
popular  clamor  by  admitting  its  leaders  to  the  privileges  of 
the  "higher  orders."  Concessions  were  made  to  the  mid- 
dle men,  which  strengthened  them  to  demand  more.  But 
a  truth,  destined  to  be  all-powerful  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, remained  to  be  discovered,  that  the  condition  of  the 
lower  classes  should  be  ameliorated.  The  lines  which  cus- 
tom and  intolerance  had  drawn  between  men,  was  to  grow 
fainter  as  the  day  approached  for  the  full  discovery  of  truth. 
The  earthquake  shock  of  the  French  Revolution  overthrew 
a  throne  rooted  to  the  soil  by  a  growth  of  a  thousand  years. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  123 

Britain  felt  the  crash.  The  people  discovered  they  were 
clothed  with  divine  rights  as  well  as  kings.  This  was  not 
expressed  in  courtly  language,  or  made  grateful  to  royal 
ears.  From  the  conquest  of  William  the  Norman,  to  Vic- 
toria the  Saxon,  there  has  been  a  gradual  circumscribing  of 
the  power  of  the  nobles  and  prerogatives  of  the  crown. 

Much  of  all  this  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  rise  and  growth 
of  cities,  which  have  been  fostered  by  kings  and  nobles. 
These  are  often  at  enmity  with  each  other,  and  to  gain  the 
favor  of  the  towns  enabled  one  or  the  other  to  gain  the  as- 
cendancy. A  borough  is  a  town  and  not  a  city.  In  its 
original  signification  it  means  a  company  consisting  of  ten 
families  who  were  pledged  to  each  other.  Afterward  a 
borough  came  to  signify  a  walled  town,  and  a  place  for 
safety.  Some  of  the  towns  were  called  free-burghs  and  the 
tradesmen  free-burgesses,  from  a  privilege  they  had  to  buy 
and  sell  without  disturbance  and  be  exempt  from  toll. 

These  seem  to  have  been  very  poor  people,  traveling 
about  with  goods  from  one  place  to  another,  and  from  fair 
to  fair,  as  hawkers  and  peddlers.  They  paid  taxes  when 
passing  through  some  of  the  great  lords*  manors,  going 
over  bridges,  and  for  erecting  booths  or  stalls  at  the  fairs. 
These  different  taxes  were  known  by  the  names  of  pas- 
sage,* lastage,f  and  stallage.  J  Sometimes  the  king  or  a 
great  lord,  upon  some  occasions,  would  grant  to  particular 
trades,  or  to  such  as  lived  on  their  own  demesnes,  a  gen- 
eral exemption  from  such  taxes.  Such  were  called  ufree- 

*  The  most  celebrated  passage  in  Europe  is  the  Sound,  or  the  narrow  en- 
trance into  the  Baltic  Sea.  Here  the  King  of  Denmark  has  the  Castle  of  El- 
sinore,  and  collects  tolls  from  all  nations.  The  Americans  refused  to  pay  the 
tax,  this  was  a  source  of  embarrassment  to  Denmark.  To  remit  to  one  na- 
tion it  would  have  to  be  done  to  all.  The  writer  can  not  tell  how  settled. 

•J~LASTAGE,  a  duty  paid  for  freight  on  transportation. 

J  STALLAGE,  the  right  to  erect  a  stall  in  a  fair — the  rent  for  a  stall. 


124  THE  LABORER; 

traders."  They  in  return  paid  an  annual  poll-tax*  for  the 
protection  they  received.  In  those  days  protection  was 
seldom  granted  without  a  valuable  consideration,  and  the 
tax  might  be  considered  as  a  compensation  for  what  their 
patrons  might  lose  by  their  exemption. 

The  American  people,  at  the  beginning  of  their  national 
career,  declared  u  that  taxation  was  tyranny."  Their  descen- 
dants have  learned  to  submit  to  taxation  very  gracefully, 
for  the  cause  of  which  they  are  indebted  to  the  great  "  De- 
mocratic party."  It  is  not  improbable  the  American  people 
at  this  time  [1869],  pay  a  fifth  part  of  all  they  earn  for  tax- 
ation. Bodin,  a  writer  in  1606,  says :  "That  there  can  be 
no  ground  or  foundation,  with  immunity,  from  subsidies  and 
taxes."  Many  Americans*  think  the  same — no  existence  as 
a  nation  without  taxes.  A  Roman  consul,  by  levying  a 
tax  on  salt  during  the  Punic  war,  was  nicknamed  the  salin- 
ator.  The  Arabs  exacted  presents  and  gifts  from  pilgrims 
who  were  going  to  Mecca.  Louis  XI  of  France,  to  pur- 
chase a  peace  of  Edward  IV,  paid  annually  in  London  the 
sum  of  50,000  crowns,  and  pensions  to  the  English  minis- 
ters. This  brought  into  use  the  terms  pensions  and  tributes. 

A  purveyor  was  an  officer  who  was  to  furnish  every  sort 
of  provisions  for  the  royal  people  during  their  progresses  or 
journeys.  His  oppressive  office  was  to  compel  countrymen 
to  bring  their  articles  to  market,  and  he  fixed  their  price. 
The  officer  became  odious  ;  Edward  IV  changed  the  name 
to  acheteur  or  buyer.  Changing  the  name  did  not  conceal 
its  nature.  Levies  of  money  were  long  raised  under  the 
pathetic  appeal  of  benevolences.  Edward  IV  went  to  France 
with  money  obtained  by  this  method.  He  rode  about  the 
land,  and  used  the  people  in  such  a  fair  manner,  that  they 
were  liberal  in  their  gifts.  Edward  was  courteous  in  his 

\  POLL-TAX,  a  tax  on  those  who  have  heads.     POLL,  a  person's  head. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  125 

newly-invented  style,  and  was,  besides,  the  handsomest  tax- 
gatherer  in  the  kingdom !  His  royal  presence  was  very 
dangerous  to  the  purses  of  his  loyal  subjects,  particularly 
to  those  of  the  females.  In  his  progress,  having  kissed  a 
widow  for  having  contributed  a  larger  sum  than  was  ex- 
pected from  her  estate,  she  was  so  overjoyed  at  the  singu- 
lar honor  and  delight  that  she  doubled  her  benevolence, 
and  a  second  kiss  ruined  her!  In  the  succeeding  reign  of 
Richard  III,  the  term  had  lost  much  of  its  innocence.  In 
a  speech  delivered  by  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  he  said : 
"Under  the  plausible  name  of  benevolences,  your  goods 
were  taken  from  you  very  much  against  your  will,  as  if  by 
that  name  it  was  understood  that  every  man  should  pay,  not 
what  he  pleased,  but  what  the  king  would  have  him."  A 
benevolence  was  levied  by  Richard  III.  Henry  VIII  de- 
manded one  and  did  not  get  it.  The  people  had  got  it  into 
their  minds  that  taxes  should  not  be  raised  without  con- 
sent of  parliament ! 

Charles  the  First  had  urgent  wants.  His  appeals  for  be- 
nevolences were  unregarded.  The  custom  of  voluntary  gifts 
was  lost,  and  compulsory  taxation  was  laid  on  the  people. 
James  I  tried  to  warm  up  the  hearts  of  his  benevolent 
people.  It  is  said  "  He  got  but  little  money  and  lost  much 
love."  When  benevolences  had  become  grievances,  more 
inviting  names  were  invented.  The  subject  was  informed 
that  the  sums  demanded  were  only  loans,  or  he  was  honored 
by  a  privy  seal — a  bond  which  the  king  engaged  to  repay  at 
a  definite  period  ;  these  were  peddled  and  hawked  about, 
even  to  persons  coming  out  of  church.  Says  a  manuscript 
letter :  "  Privy  seals  are  flying  thick  in  sight  of  all  the  world, 
which  might  surely  have  been  better  performed  in  deliver- 
ing them  to  every  man  at  home."  The  general  loan  was, 
in  fact,  a  forced  loan,  and  one  of  the  many  grievances  under 


126  THE  LABORER; 

Charles  I.  It  was  very  ingenious  in  the  destruction  of  his 
own  popularity.  Commissioners  were  to  find  out  who  was 
able  to  bear  the  largest  rates  [amounts.]  Lord  Burleigh's 
advice  to  Elizabeth  was — "win  hearts,  and  you  have  their 
hands  and  purses.'* 

The  inhabitants  of  the  towns  arrived  at  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence quicker  than  the  occupiers  of  land.  These  in- 
habitants got  whole  manors,  the  rent  of  which  was  jointly 
paid,  and  collected  their  own  way,  and  paid  into  the  king's 
exchequer  by  the  hands  of  their  own  bailiff,  and  they  were 
freed  from  the  insolence  of  the  king's  officers — a  circum- 
stance, in  those  days,  of  the  greatest  importance.  In  pro- 
cess of  time,  however,  it  seems  to  have  been  the  practice 
to  grant  it  to  them  in  fee — that  is,  forever. 

Along  with  this  grant  of  paying  all  their  rent  at  once  in- 
stead of  detail,  the  burghers  got  the  privilege  of  giving  away 
their  own  daughters  in  marriage,  and  also  the  liberty  of  dis- 
posing of  their  effects  to  their  children  by  will.  The  prin- 
cipal attributes  of  slavery  and  villainage  were  taken  away 
and  they  really  became  free.  They  were  generally  at  the 
same  time  erected  into  a  corporation,  with  the  privilege  of 
electing  their  own  magistrates,  choosing  a  town  council, 
making  their  own  laws,  creating  means  of  safety,  building 
walls,  and  training  the  inhabitants  to  the  use  of  arms,  for 
the  defense  of  their  city  or  town.  These  were  generally 
exempted  from  suit  to  the  hundred  or  county  court  Dif- 
ficulties were  left  to  the  decision  of  their  magistrates. 

In  those  days  the  sovereign,  perhaps,  of  no  country  in 
Europe  was  able  to  protect,  throughout  the  whole  extent 
of  his  dominions,  the  weaker  part  of  his  subjects  from  the 
oppression  of  the  great  lords.  Those  whom  the  law  could 
not  protect,  and  who  were  not  strong  enough  to  defend 
themselves,  were  obliged  either  to  have  resource  to  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  127 

protection  of  a  great  lord,  and,  in  order  to  obtain  it,  to  be- 
come either  his  vassals  or  slaves ;  or  to  enter  into  a  league 
of  mutual  defense  for  the  protection  of  one  another.  The 
inhabitants  of  cities  and  burghs,  considered  as  single  indi- 
viduals, had  no  power  to  defend  themselves.  By  entering 
into  a  league  of  mutual  defense  with  their  neighbors,  they 
were  capable  of  making  a  good  resistance.  The  lords  de- 
spised the  burghers,  whom  they  considered  as  a  parcel  of 
emancipated  slaves.  The  wealth  of  the  burghers  never 
failed  to  provoke  their  envy  and  indignation,  and  they  plun- 
dered them  upon  every  occasion  without  mercy  or  remorse. 

The  burghers  naturally  hated  and  feared  the  lords.  The 
king  hated  and  feared  the  lords  also  ;  but  though  he  might 
despise,  he  had  no  reason  to  fear  or  hate  the  burgher.  Mu- 
tual interest,  therefore,  disposed  them  to  support  the  king, 
and  the  king  to  support  them  against  the  lords.  It  was  the 
king's  interest  to  render  the  burghers  as  secure  and  inde- 
pendent as  possible.  By  granting  them  magistrates  of  their 
own,  the  privilege  of  making  their  by-laws  for  their  gov- 
ernment, that  of  building  walls  for  defense,  and  that  of  re- 
ducing the  inhabitants  into  a  sort  of  military  discipline,  he 
gave  them  independence  and  the  means  of  security  against 
the  barons,  which  it  was  in  his  power  to  bestow.  Without 
the  establishment  of  some  regular  government  of  this  kind, 
without  some  authority  to  compel  the  inhabitants  to  act 
according  to  some  plan  or  system,  no  voluntary  league  of 
mutual  defense  could  have  either  afforded  them  any  per- 
manent security,  or  have  given  the  king  any  considerable 
support.  By  giving  them  the  farm  of  their  town  in  fee,  he 
took  away  all  ground  of  jealousy,  so  that  he  could  never 
afterward  oppress  them,  by  raising  theH  farm  rent  of  their 
town,  or  by  granting  it  to  some  other  person. 

The  princes  who  lived  on  the  worst  terms  with  their 


128  THE  LABORER; 

barons,  seem  to  have  been  the  most  liberal  in  their  grants 
of  this  kind  to  the  burghs.  King  John,  of  England,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  a  munificent  benefactor  of  his  towns. 
Philip  the  First,  of  France,  lost  all  authority  over  his  ba- 
rons. Toward  the  end  of  his  reign  his  son  Lewis  consulted 
with  his  bishops  of  the  royal  demesnes,  concerning  the  best 
method-of  restraining  the  violence  of  the  great  lords.  His 
advice  was  to  erect  a  new  order  of  jurisdiction,  by  estab- 
lishing a  town  council  with  magistrates  in  every  considerable 
town  of  his  demesnes,  and  to  form  a  new  militia,  by  mak- 
ing the  inhabitants  of  those  towns,  under  the  command  of 
their  own  magistrates,  march  out  upon  proper  occasions  to 
the  assistance  of  the  king.  It  is  from  this  period,  according 
to  the  French  antiquarians,  that  we  are  to  date  the  institu- 
tion of  magistrates  and  councils  in  the  cities  of  France. 

It  was  during  the  unprosperous  reign  of  some  of  the  Ger- 
man princes,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  free  towns  of  Ger- 
many received  their  first  grants  and  privileges.  The  Hanse- 
satic  league  was  very  formidable,  it  derived  its  name  from 
Hanse,  an  ancient  name  for  a  society  of  merchants,  and  it 
also  means  a  multitude — an  alliance,  an  association.  The 
towns  of  these  merchants  were  called  the  Hanse-towns,  and 
were  a  union  of  German  cities  for  the  protection  of  com- 
merce. Bremen  and  Amsterdam  were  the  two  first  cities 
that  formed  it;  whose  trade  received  such  an  advantage  by 
fitting  out  two  men-of-war  in  each  city  to  convoy  their 
ships.  This  was  a  cause  of  other  cities  entering  into  the 
league.  Kings  and  princes  made  treaties  with  them,  and 
were  often  glad  of  their  assistance  and  protection;  by  this 
means  they  grew  so  powerful  both  by  sea  and  land,  that 
they  raised  armies  as  well  as  navies,  made  peace  and  war, 
and  had  countries  in  sovereignty.*  All  this  was  to  increase 

*  SOVEREIGNTY,  supreme  power}   the  power  to  make  laws. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  129 

their  trade.  In  the  year  1200  the  cities  and  towns  in  the 
league  numbered  seventy-two.  The  alliance  was  so  pow- 
erful, that  their  ships  of  war  were  often  hired  by  princes  to 
assist  them  against  their  enemies.  This  confederacy  of 
cities  not  only  awed,  but  often  defeated,  all  who  opposed 
their  commerce.  In  1358,  the  Danes  interrupted  their  com- 
merce— revenge  was  taken  on  them ;  and  the  Danes  to 
purchase  peace,  gave  up  the  dues  from  the  passage  of  the 
Sound  for  sixteen  years.  Many  privileges  were  bestowed 
on  these  towns  by  the  kings  of  Europe  for  loans  of  money 
and  other  good  services. 

The  reader  can  very  easily  form  a  conception  how  the 
towns  would  forward  human  liberty,  when  kings  and  nobles 
oppressed  their  slaves,  they  found  a  welcome  in  these  cities 
to  make  cloths,  stuffs,  silks,  and  linens.  These  slaves  made 
good  soldiers,  as  they  would  not  like  to  be  returned  again  to 
their  masters  and  slavery.  Those  who  opposed  these  free 
cities,  would  have  to  be  kind  to  their  slaves  to  get  them  to 
fight  against  them,  and  prevent  them  from  running  away. 
Hungary  was  a  dissatisfied  province  of  Austria.  The  inva- 
sion of  the  first  Napoleon  compelled  Austria  to  be  gener- 
ous to  the  Hungarians,  and  teach  them  to  fight.  This 
people,  having  learned  their  power  and  the  use  of  arms,  be- 
came clamorous  for  liberty.  In  1853,  tn's  Pe°P^e  revolted, 
and  have  now  gained  all  they  have  asked  for.  The  Eng- 
lish were  constantly  at  war  with  France  up  to  the  time  of 
Queen  Elizabeth.  In  order  to  get  the  villains  to  go  to  the 
wars  they  promised  them  their  freedom ;  on  their  return 
from  France,  they  settled  in  the  towns  and  became  smiths, 
weavers,  and  artificers. 

The  militia  in  the  cities  were  not  inferior  to  the  militia 
of  the  country.  The  citizens  were  always  together,  which 
gave  them  some  advantage  over  the  lords.  In  Italy  and 


130  THE  LABORER; 

Switzerland  the  government  could  not  control  the  distant 
cities,  which  became  independent,  and  conquered  the  sur- 
rounding nobles,  and  obliged  them  to  pull  down  their  cas- 
tles, and  to  live  like  civil  people.  This  is  the  history  of 
Berne,  and  many  other  cities  in  Switzerland.  There  were 
Italian  republics  that  arose  from  the  same  causes,  and  per- 
ished at  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  after  existing 
for  four  hundred  years. 

In  such  countries  as  that  of  France  and  England,  the 
rule  of  the  king  was  often  low,  but  never  extinguished,  the 
cities  had  no  opportunities  of  becoming  independent.  The 
king,  however,  could  impose  no  taxes  upon  them  without 
their  consent,  besides  the  stated  rent  of  the  farm.  Towns 
would  gain  considerable  wealth  by  trading  with  the  sur- 
rounding and  far-off  countries.  They  were  called  upon  to 
send  deputies  to  the  general  assembly  of  the  kingdom,  so 
that  they  might  join  with  the  clergy  and  the  barons,  on  ur- 
gent occasions,  and  grant  to  the  king  extraordinary  aids. 
These  deputies  have  been  employed  by  the  king,  as  a  coun- 
terbalance in  the  assemblies  of  the  powerful  lords;  hence 
the  representation  of  boroughs  or  towns  in  all  the  great 
monarchies  of  Europe. 

Order  and  security  of  individuals  were  established  in  the 
cities,  when  the  occupiers  of  land  in  the  country  were  ex- 
posed to  every  sort  of  violence.  Men  in  this  defenseless 
state  naturally  content  themselves  with  their  necessary  sub- 
sistence ;  because  to  acquire  more  might  only  tempt  the  in- 
justice of  their  oppressors.  When  men  are  secure  of  en- 
joying the  fruits  of  their  industry,  they  naturally  exert  it  to 
better  their  condition,  and  to  acquire  the  comforts  as  well 
as  the  necessaries  of  life.  That  industry  which  aims  at 
something  more  than  necessary  subsistence,  was  established 
in  cities  long  before  it  was  done  by  the  occupiers  of  land. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  131 

A  poor  villain,  oppressed  with  servitude,  would  generally 
conceal  some  of  his  labor  from  the  eye  of  his  master,  who 
claimed  all.  He  would  naturally  take  the  first  opportunity  to 
run  away  to  a  town.  The  law  was  indulgent  to  the  inhab- 
itants of  towns,  and  it  diminished  the  authority  of  the  great 
lords  over,  those  who  belonged  to  them  in  the  country. 
If  a  slave  could  conceal  himself  for  one  year  he  was  a  free- 
man. The  accumulated  property  in  the  hands  of  slaves 
was  taken  to  a  city  as  a  place  of  refuge,  as  the  only  sanc- 
tuary in  which  it  could  be  secured  to  the  person  who  ac- 
quired it. 

Even  in  France,  a  country  which  made  more  early  ad- 
vances in  arts  and  civil  policy  than  England,  their  first  cor- 
poration was  sixty  years  before  William's  conquest.  The 
erecting  of  these  communities  was  an  invention  of  Lewis 
the  Gross,  in  order  to  free  the  people  from  slavery  under 
the  lords,  and  to  give  them  protection  by  means  of  certain 
privileges,  and  a  separate  jurisdiction.  An  ancient  French 
writer  calls  them  "A  new  and  wicked  device,  to  procure 
liberty  to  slaves,  and  to  encourage  them  to  shake  off  the 
dominion  of  their  masters."  The  famous  charter  of  the 
Conqueror  to  the  city  of  London,  though  granted  at  a  time 
when  he  assumed  the  appearance  of  lenity  and  gentleness, 
is  nothing  but  a  letter  of  protection,  and  a  declaration  that 
the  citizens  should  not  be  slaves. 

It  is  plain  to  the  reader  that  kings  and  lords,  to  live  in 
ease,  must  have  slaves.  Their  contentions  gave  birth  to 
cities.  These  have  given  an  appearance  of  freedom  to  men, 
not  a  perfect  freedom.  This  will  be  attained  when  men  live 
again  in  the  country.  It  can  not  be  denied  that  cities  are 
the  abodes  of  refinement  and  luxury.  The  history  of  an 
old  city  opens  many  views  into  the  realms  of  the  past, 
crowded  with  the  romantic  and  religious.  Buildings,  dilap- 


132  THE  LABORER; 

idated  and  dingy,  or  tastelessly  modernized,  in  which  great 
geniuses  were  born  and  died,  whose  tales  of  valor  and  suf- 
fering, of  heroism  and  patience,  of  virtue  and  piety,  of  the 
patriot's  life  and  the  martyr's  death,  crowd  thickly  on  the 
memory.  Nor  do  the  opposite  reminiscences  of  crime  and 
vice,  of  evil  passion  and  false  principles,  fail  to  give  us  ad- 
monitions and  warnings.  The  broad  thoroughfare  is  a  chan- 
nel, within  whose  banks  there  has  been  rolling  for  centu- 
ries a  river  of  human  life. 

These  dwelling-places  of  man  are  proofs  and  expressions 
of  his  ingenuity,  skill,  and  toil,  of  his  social  instincts  and 
habits.  Their  varied  architecture  and  style,  the  various 
motives  and  diversified  purposes  that  led  to  their  erection, 
are  symbols  and  illustrations  of  the  innumerable  forms,  the 
strange  gradations  of  men's  wealth,  condition,  character, 
tastes,  and  feelings.  Each  house  has  a  history  of  its  own. 
What  changeful  scenes  has  the  interior  of  many  a  dwelling 
witnessed !  Families  have  come  and  gone,  people  have 
been  born  and  died,  obedient  to  the  law  that  man  must  die. 
In  many  a  mansion  has  been  seen  the  gay  wedding  and 
gloomy  funeral,  the  welcome  meeting,  and  the  sad  parting. 
A  mansion  catches  the  eye  by  its  splendor ;  through  its  win- 
dows flash  the  light  of  patrician  luxury,  at  whose  door  lines 
of  proud  equipages  drive  up ;  on  the  steps  are  obsequious 
footmen  in  gilded^liveries,  to  receive  the  visitors.  In  those 
mansions  are  hearts  pining  away  with  envy,  fear,  jealousy, 
remorse,  and  agony.  In  that  humble  cottage  abode,  is  con- 
tentment and  piety,  which  are  better  than  rubies  or  gold. 

Who  can  live  in  a  large  city  without  a  feeling  of  pain  in 
seeing  splendid  wealth  contrasted  with  squalid  poverty.  In 
cities  may  be  seen  the  marble-fronted,  or  exquisitely-carved 
stone-fronted  mansion ;  the  floors  are  mosaic  or  covered 
with  velvet  carpets;  the  walls  are  covered  with  beautiful, 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  133 

gold  paper.  In  this  mansion  are  easy  chairs,  luxurious  so- 
fas, carved  book-cases,  Sevres-china,  sparkling  cut-glass, 
exquisitely  framed  pictures,  beautiful  gems  of  art,  full  length 
mirrors,  sculptured  marble  fire-places,  canopied  bedsteads 
with  deep  oak  carvings,  and  every  luxury  money  can  pur- 
chase. A  short  distance  from  this,  is  a  dark  cellar;  in  it  is 
to  be  found  a  widow  and  her  children,  no  chairs  or  table, 
these  were  sold  to  buy  food.  A  few  pieces  of  rags  to  cover 
them  during  the  night — they  can  scarcely  sleep  for  cold. 
These  children  have  the  coarsest  food,  while  the  other  fam- 
ily has  every  dainty.  The  one  family  does  no  labor  at  all, 
the  other  labors  incessantly,  and  may  be  on  a  piece  of  finery 
of  no  utility. 

This  narration  will  show  some  of  the  causes  why  people 
are  poor:  uln  Padbury,  Buckinghamshire,  was  executed  a 
scarf  two  yards  and  three-quarters  long,  and  three-quarters 
wide,  surrounded  by  a  wreath-like  pattern  of  flowers  and 
foliage,  in  which  the  large  passion  flower  adorning  each 
corner  was  particularly  noticeable  as  a  triumph  of  skill. 
The  center  or  ground  was  studded  with  separate  flowers, 
analogous  to  those  on  the  border.  This  effective  piece  of 
work  was  made  in  strips,  and  joined,  so  as  to  defy  the  most 
critical  eye.  This  was  executed  by  three  sisters — Maria, 
Susan,  and  Ann  Salmon.  They  were  employed  eighteen 
weeks,  and  in  consideration  of  their  pre-eminent  ability,  and 
the  importance  of  the  task  intrusted  to  them,  were  each  re- 
munerated by  their  employers  at  the  comparative  high  rate 
of  six  shillings  a  week.  This  beautiful  lace  scarf  was  shown 
to  the  Queen,  who  became  its  purchaser.*'* 

These  lace-makers  are  often  very  wretched ;  their  cloth- 
ing poor  and  scanty,  their  food  meager  and  rough.  These 
lace-makers  suffer  by  the  changes  of  fashion,  wars,  bad 

*  Lace  and  Lace-making,   CHAMBERS'  Repository. 

13 


134  THE  LABORER; 

harvests,  and  hard  times.  It  must  be  self-evident  that 
if  these  women  had  done  something  of  more  utility,  their 
condition  would  have  been  better,  and  that  of  the  commu- 
nity also. 

If  we  apply  this  reasoning  to  cities,  we  can  soon  remove 
the  causes  of  misery  that  exists  there.  We  must  all  labor 
at  something  useful.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  the  eye, 
in  a  large  city,  is  the  magnificence  of  some  of  the  streets 
that  are  devoted  to  the  sale  of  goods.  They  have  a  great 
deal  of  useless  labor  on  them.  If  this  labor  were  put  on  the 
homes  of  those  who  toil,  it  would  make  a  home  attractive, 
and  keep  many  from  the  haunts  of  vice.  If  the  goods  that 
are  sold  in  these  palace-like  stores  were  sold  in  a  plainer 
building,  the  goods  could  be  sold  cheaper.  The  rents  keep 
many  from  toil,  who  are  well  able  to  do  it,  who  are  main- 
tained by  the  laborer  because  he  has  been  mistaught. 

In  cities  women  spend  a  little  time  fixing  up,  to  go  to 
market ;  then  she  works  hard  to  carry  home  a  small  load 
of  potatoes,  turnips,  beets,  carrots,  and  corn.  Were  the 
same  time  that  is  spent  in  carrying  and  bargaining  for  these 
and  other  articles,  spent  in  the  garden,  it  would  yield  the 
same  quantity  of  vegetables.  One  hour  in  a  day  spent  in 
a  garden  would  give  garden  produce  sufficient  for  a  fam- 
ily of  six  persons.  After  the  soil  is  plowed,  to  labor  with  a 
hoe  or  rake  is  not  very  severe  when  done  in  a  morning. 
The  gardener  has  to  spend  much  time  in  going  and  stay- 
ing in  the  market.  The  gardener  first  supplies  himself 
with  food,  and  sells  what  is  left  to  buy  clothing.  He 
can  make  much  of  his  clothing  in  the  time  which  he  spent 
cultivating  for  others.  The  city  person  has  first  to  earn 
money  and  then  take  time  to  spend  it.  A  person  having  a 
garden  will  cut  ofF  the  time  that  is  spent  in  earning  market 
money.  A  large  part  of  the  laborer's  wages  is  spent  for 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  135 

strawberries,  currants,  gooseberries,  blackberries,  peaches, 
plums,  apples,  and  grapes.  Without  these  fruits  men  will 
be  sick.  A  paper-maker  wishes  to  whiten  his  rags,  he 
uses  chloride  of  lime,  this  rots  them.  The  human  stomach 
is  a  repository  for  tough  steak  and  other  things,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  use  these  fruits;  that  the  stomach  may  use  the  acids 
they  contain  to  dissolve  hard  food.  These  fruits  derive 
their  cost  from  the  labor  of  saving  and  gathering.  If  this 
labor  were  done  by  women  and  children,  the  cost  of  these 
fruits  would  be  cut  off.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  time 
will  come,  when  every  family  will  have  its  own  fruit-trees, 
and  sit  under  its  own  grape-vine. 

Citizen  Miles  Greenwood,  of  Cincinnati,  will  make  for 
those  who  wish  to  shorten  labor  a  hand  loom,  which,  by 
turning  a  crank,  will  make  thirty  yards  of  cloth  in  a  day. 
Society  has  two  large  classes,  farmers  and  mechanics,  one 
part  miserably  live  in  the  towns,  paying  high  rents.  A  re- 
turn to  the  primitive  occupations  of  making  cloth  and  shoes 
in  the  family  would  bring  a  great  deal  of  happiness  to  many. 
Even  to  this  day,  in  the  country  villages  in  some  parts  of 
England,  the  mothers  and  daughters  make  the  linen,  laces, 
and  fringes  for  their  own  use.  Every  reasonable  person, 
after  sleeping  eight  hours,  reading  eight  hours,  should  be 
willing  to  work  eight  hours  to  complete  the  day.  It  is  a 
beautiful  sight  to  see  a  bed  covered  with  snow-white  linen, 
and  the  table  and  bureau  having  on  it  a  nice  flower-worked 
cover.  This  is  a  sight  far  more  beautiful  than  to  see  a  fine 
painting,  the  owner  of  which  has  sold  a  building  lot  to  a 
mechanic  for  a  high  sum,  which  only  cost  a  small  sum. 
The  contemplation  of  this  painting,  must  bring  to  the  sen- 
sitive mind  this  thought :  those  from  whom  the  money  was 
taken,  what  painful  self-denial  they  must  have  practiced,  in 
turning  their  coats,  patching  their  trowsers,  eating  butterless 


136  THE  LABORER; 

bread,  drinking  faintly  sweetened  coffee,  innocent  of  milk. 
A  woman  can  make  a  yard  of  linen  in  a  day,  which  is  three 
hundred  yards  in  a  year.  In  a  city  like  Cincinnati  are  tens 
of  thousands  idle  boys  and  girls,  rich  and  poor,  who  can  not 
be  set  to  work  for  want  of  space. 

In  a  large  city  is  a  long  business  street,  the  houses  have 
carved  fronts,  and  many  are  magnificent.  At  the  back  of 
the  stores  is  an  alley,  in  which  runs  a  stream  of  putrid  water, 
emiting  a  strong  smell  or  mephitic  air.  In  the  back  of  the 
store  is  the  counting  room,  in  which  is  the  owner  and  his 
book-keepers.  These  last  are  tender  and  delicate,  whose  ca- 
reer in  life  may  be  prematurely  ended.  Nature  intended 
men  should  harden  themselves  with  outdoor  toil.  This 
room  is  badly  lighted,  it  is  alway  a  dim  light  never  sufficient 
to  save  the  sight  from  dimness.  While  the  front  of  the 
house  is  devoted  to  traffic,  the  back  part  is  a  work-shop. 
It  frequently  happens  that  over  the  counting  room,  is  a  room 
containing  twenty  or  thirty  milliners.  Those  who  are  the 
oldest  and  use  glasses  can  sit  near  the  windows.  Some  are 
twenty  feet  from  the  window,  and  are  hastening  on  prema- 
ture blindness.  All  this  is  to  gratify  pride,  and  a  love  of 
gay  clothing.  Many  printers  and  tailors  have  their  shop 
windows  in  narrow  alleys  nine  feet  wide. 

George  Stephenson,  the  great  improver  of  the  locomo- 
tive, said:  "The  time  was  coming  when  men  could  not  af- 
ford to  walk,  they  will  ride  on  railways."  Why  should  not 
the  shops,  where  men  have  to  spend  one-third  part  of  their 
time,  be  cheerful,  roomy,  and  full  of  light  on  all  sides  ?  It 
will  be  so  when  men  go  to  the  country  and  surround  their 
shops  with  walks  and  grassy  lawns.  The  time  is  coming 
when  cities  will  not  be  so  crowded.  Would  it  not  pro- 
mote the  happiness  of  book-printers,  binders,  and  pressmen, 
of  Cincinnati  if  they  were  in  a  town  by  themselves,  the 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  137 

folders,  stitchers,  and  press-feeders  are  women,  these,  with 
the  families  of  printers  would,  form  a  large  society.  Why 
should  not  a  printer  have  a  home?  A  home  like  a  manor 
house,  ornamental  in  its  architecture,  with  grass  lawns,  and 
fragrant  flower  beds.  The  other  mechanics,  too,  should  have 
homes.  Not  one  mechanic  in  ten  owns  a  home  ;  the  reason 
is,  it  costs  $3,000  in  a  large  city,  some  more,  others  less.  La- 
borers should  form  suburban  towns.  The  wages  of  a  mar- 
ried mechanic  seems  to  be  divided  thus:  for  rent  one- 
fourth,  for  chickens,  honey,  fruit,  vegetables,  pigs,  milk, 
and  butter  another  fourth  of  the  wages  is  consumed.  All 
families,  three-fourths  of  a  century  ago,  produced  abundantly 
these  things;  then  a  house  had  stable,  fruit  and  kitchen  gar- 
den. The  banks  of  the  Clyde,  from  its  mouth  to  the  city 
of  Glasgow,  a  distance  of  thirty  miles,  is  a  continuous  ship- 
yard. The  banks  of  the  Thames  contain  a  succession  of  in- 
dustrial towns.  Cities  should  be  contrived  so  as  those  who 
live  in  them  will  not  have  to  labor  so  hard.  This  will  be 
done  when  railroads  are  used  more. 

The  city  of  Paris  has  2,000,000  inhabitants ;  to  supply 
their  wants  persons  come  with  garden  stuff  forty  miles. 
What  an  army  it  must  take  to  supply  them  with  their  food. 
The  lighting  of  a  city  takes  an  enormous  amount,  which 
should  be  saved.  In  a  large  city  thousands  are  employed 
at  street-cleaning,  sewer-digging,  and  in  watching  the  city. 
In  a  city  are  many  drinking  saloons  and  tobacco  shops. 
These  make  an  enormous  drain  of  persons  from  society. 
When  these  are  returned  to  useful  labors,  society  will  find 
some  relief.  It  is  not  improbable  that  if  all  the  book-' 
keepers  and  clerks  that  are  in  Cincinnati  should  go  to  rais- 
ing wheat  they  could  keep  the  inhabitants  in  bread  all  the 
time.  This  is  based  on  the  calculation  that  there  are 
6000  clerks,  each  producing  500  bushels  of  wheat,  which 


138  THE  LABORER; 

gives  a  bushel  a  month  to  250,000  people.  If  the  street- 
sweepers,  sewer-diggers,  lamp-lighters,  watchmen,  and  the 
Members  of  the  City  Council  were  to  work  on  Mr  Green- 
wood's hand-loom,  they  could  make  for  each  in  Cincinnati 
thirty-six  yards  of  cloth.  This  is  based  on  the  calculation 
that  there  are  1,000  of  these  persons  to  do  the  city  work, 
and  they  work  for  a  year.  This  loom,  it  is  said,  can  make 
thirty  yards  in  a  day.  It  has  been  computed  there  are  in 
Cincinnati  4,000  persons  engaged  in  selling  beer,  whisky, 
and  tobacco.  These  could  make  each  in  a  year  1,000  bush- 
els of  corn.  This  will  give  to  every  one  in  Cincinnati,  195 
pounds  of  hams,  bacon,  and  lard.  The  corn  will  make 
this  quantity.  It  can  be  easily  proved  that  20,000  persons 
can  clothe  and  feed  the  250,000  persons  who  live  in -Cin- 
cinnati. This  proves  that  if  each  person  were  to  work  for 
himself  five-sixths  of  an  hour  in  a  day,  directly  at  food  and 
clothes,  he  would  have  abundance  of  food,  and  plenty  of 
common  clothing.  It  is  by  making  many  unnecessary  pur- 
suits that  men  are  poor.  Unproductive  labor  makes  men 
poor,  and  causes  crime.  A  return  to  productive  labor  will 
banish  poverty  and  crime. 

Thomas  Jefferson  was  of  the  opinion  u  That  no  place 
should  be  larger  than  the  members  of  one's  own  family." 
The  New  York  Tribune,  previous  to  the  war  of  1861, 
says:  "Many  would  hesitate  to  believe  how  small  is  the 
compensation  received  by  women  for  their  labors,  and  the 
amount  of  work  exacted  of  them  in  return,  if  it  were  n 
capable  of  strong  proof.  Even  the  skilled  work  of  the  pro- 
fessed dressmaker,  milliner,  and  tailoress,  is  very  poorly  re- 
munerated. The  sum  received  by  that  large  class  who  do 
plain  sewing  for  a  support  is  least  of  all,  and  it  is  often  not 
sufficient,  even  with  the  greatest  economy  and  manage- 
ment, to  procure  the  commonest  necessaries  of  life.  We 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  139 

have  now  in  our  city  women  employed  in  making  coarse 
shirts  at  fourteen  cents  each.  Two  of  these  are  as  much 
as  they  can  possibly  make  in  a  day,  sewing  incessantly.  In 
a  week  the  amount  earned  was  not  much  over  one  dollar 
and  a  half.  Out  of  this  they  were  to  clothe,  board,  and 
lodge  themselves.  And  this  was  their  only  resource  for  a 
livelihood,  and  a  precarious  one,  too.  A  steady  supply  of 
this  kind  of  work  can  not  be  looked  for." 

"What  is  the  position  of  the  needlewoman?  Far  worse 
than  that  of  the  servant.  It  matters  not  if  she  faints  from 

exhaustion  and  fatigue;  Mrs wants  her  ball  dress,  and 

the  poor  slave  must  labor,  so  that  the  gay  robe  may  deck 
the  form  of  beauty.  The  hour  of  release  has  come  at  last. 
The  wearied  girl  walks  feebly  through  the  streets ;  she 
meets  some  one  of  her  own  sex  bedecked  with  finery,  the 
thought  flashes  across  the  mind,  they  are  better  off  than  I 
am.  This  thought  is  too  often  the  precursor  of  her  ruin. 
We  level  the  poor  to  the  dust'  by  our  general  policy,  and 
take  infinite  credit  to  ourselves,  for  raising  them  up  by  the 
grace  of  charity."  * 

"  Great  cities  grow  to  be  the  nursing  mothers  of  ignor- 
ance, vice,  and  crime.  The  tendency  in  that  direction, 
being,  as  every-where,  in  the  direct  ratio  of  the  exhaustion 
of  the  soil.  Every  stage  of  this  downward  progress,  is 
marked  by  a  growing  tendency  toward  appropriation,  as  a 
substitute  for  honest  labor.  As  a  consequence  our  Amer- 
ican cities  are  rapidly  sinking,  in  this  respect,  to  a  level  with 
the  worst  of  those  in  Europe.  During  the  last  two  years 
the  writer  (Mr  Brace)  has  had  considerable  opportunities  of 
observing,  the  degradation  of  Europe  ;  and  to  him  it  is 
sadly  ominous  of  evil,  that  our  future  society  rests  on  such 
a  base  of  guilt.  There  is  nothing  in  Europe  worse  than 

*  FoNTABLANQUE. 


140  THE  LABORER; 

the  back  streets  of  New  York.  The  lanes  of  Liverpool, 
St.  Giles,  and  Westminister,  the  faubourgs  of  the  Seine,  the 
suburbs  of  Vienna  do  not,  any  of  them,  present  such  tnin- 
gled  poverty  and  vice  as  do  our  lowest  wards."  * 

"  In  Boston  there  are  2,000  persons  begging,  or  by  fraud 
getting  their  daily  bread.  In  Cincinnati  may  be  seen  daily 
600  persons  during  the  winter  asking  for  public  relief.  The 
Federal  Government  has  now  adopted  a  system  looking 
toward  the  perpetual  maintenance  of  an  indirect  tax.  The 
nation  doubles  the  salaries  of  secretaries  and  ministers  at  a 
time  when  the  artisan  finds  a  daily  difficulty  of  obtaining 
food  and  clothing  for  his  children.  Trading  cities  treble 
their  expenditures,  and  pauperism  gaines  with  great  strides. 
The  expenses  of  the  city  of  New  York  have  risen  in  seven 
years,  from  $3,000,000  to  $9,000,000,  and  the  fees  of  the 
city  attorney  have  advanced,  from  a  moderate  amount  to 
the  annual  sum  of  §7 1,296. "f 

This  description  of  the  sorVows  of  those  who  live  in  cities, 
is  from  Charles  Lamb's  "Essays  of  Elia:"  "The  physi- 
cal condition  of  the  working  classes,  is  more  wretched  than 
we  can  bear  to  consider.  The  agricultural  laborers  are 
subject  to  violent  diseases,  proceeding  from  acute  inflamma- 
tion, medical  assistance  is  very  remote,  and  negligently  ad- 
ministered ;  their  robust  frames  feed  the  diseases  that  at- 
tack them;  they  are  stricken  down  in  the  summer  of  their 
days  and  die  in  the  zenith  of  their  vigorous  health.  Not 
so  with  the  mechanic;  he  has  medical  aid  at  hand  ;  acute 
disorders  fall  light  on  the  yielding  relaxations  of  his  frame ; 
it  is  not  that  he  dies  sooner  than  the  laborer ;  he  lives  more 
painfully ;  he  knows  not  what  health  is ;  his  whole  life  is 
that  of  a  man  nourished  on  slow  poisons ;  disease  sits  at  his 
heart,  and  gnaws  it  at  its  cruel  leisure.  The  incessant 

*  Rev.  C.  L.  Brace.      j"  North  American  Review,  No.  72  page  181. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  141 


labor  in  some  manufactories,  the  small  deleterious  parti- 
cles that  float  upon  the  atmosphere,  engendering  painful 
and  embittering  maladies,  afflict  with  evils,  even  more 
dreadful  than  the  heritage  of  literary  application.  It  is  not 
the  disease  to  which  the  operative  is  subject  ;  he  bears  in 
the  fiber  of  his  nerves,  and  in  the  marrow  of  his  bones,  the 
terrible  bequeathments  of  hereditary  affliction.  His  parents 
married  under  age,  unfit  for  the  cares,  inadequate  to  the  la- 
bors which  a  rash  and  hasty  connection  has  forced  upon 
them — each,  perhaps,  having  resort  to  ardent  spirits  in  the 
short  intervals  of  rest.  The  mother  engaged  in  the  factory 
during  the  period  of  child-bearing — every  hour  she  was  so 
employed  added  the  seeds  of  a  new  infirmity  to  her  new- 
born offspring. 

"  Observe  the  young  mother  how  wan  and  worn  are  her 
cheeks ;  how  squalid  her  attire ;  how  mean  her  home,  yet 
her  wages  and  those  of  her  partner  are  sufficient,  perhaps, 
to  smooth,  with  decorous  comforts,  the  hours  of  rest,  and  to 
provide  for  all  the  sudden  necessities  of  toiling  life.  A  slat- 
tern and  thriftless  waste  converts  what  ought  to  be  compe- 
tence into  poverty ;  and  amid  cheerless  and  unloving  as- 
pects the  young  victim  is  ushered  into  light. 

"The  innocent  prattle  of  his  children  takes  out  the  sting 
of  a  man's  poverty.  The  children  of  the  very  poor  do  not 
prattle !  It  is  none  of  the  least  frightful  features  in  that 
condition  that  there  is  no  childishness  in  its  dwelling.  A 
sensible  old  nurse  once  said:  'Poor  people  do  not  bring  up 
their  children  ;  they  drag  them  up.'  The  little  careless  dar- 
ling of  the  wealthier  nursery,  in  their  hovel  is  transformed 
betimes  into  a  premature  reflecting  person.  No  one  has 
time  to  dandle  it,  to  toss  it  up  and  down,  to  coax  it,  to  hu- 
mor, to  sooth  it.  There  is  none  to  kiss  away  its  tears.  If 
it  .cries,  it  can  only  be  beaten.  It  has  been  prettily  said, 


142  THE  LABORER; 

'that  a  babe  is  fed  with  milk  and  praise.'  The  aliment  of 
this  poor  babe  was  thin  and  unnourishing.  The  return 
for  its  little  baby  tricks,  and  its  efforts  to  gain  attention,  is 
bitter,  ceaseless  objurgation.  It  never  had  a  toy,  or  knew 
what  a  coral  meant,  it  grew  up  without  the  lullaby  of  nurses ; 
it  was  a  stranger  to  the  patient  fondle,  the  blushing  caress, 
the  attracting  novelty,  the  costlier  plaything,  or  the  cheap 
off-hand  contrivance  to  divert  the  child,  the  prattled  non- 
sense (best  sense  to  it),  the  wise  impertinence,  the  whole- 
some lies,  the  apt  story  interposed,  that  puts  a  stop  to  its 
present  sufferings,  and  awakens  the  passions  of  young  won- 
der. It  was  never  sung  too,  or  told  a  nursery  tale. 

"It  was  dragged  up  to  live  or  die  as  it  happened.  It  had 
no  young  dreams.  It  broke  at  once  into  the  iron  realities 
of  life.  A  child  of  the  very  poor  is  not  an  object  of  dal- 
liance ;  it  is  only  another  mouth  to  be  fed,  a  pair  of  little 
hands  to  be  innured  to  toil.  It  is  the  rival  for  the  food  of 
the  parents,  till  it  becomes  a  co-operator  with  them.  It  is 
never  given  to  mirth,  has  no  diversion  or  solace,  it  never 
makes  him  young  again,  recalling  his  young  times.  It 
makes  the  very  heart  bleed  to  overhear  the  casual  street 
talk  between  a  poor  woman  and  her  little  girl.  It  is  not 
of  toys,  of  nursery  books,  of  summer  holidays,  of  the  pro- 
mised sight,  or  of  the  praised  sufficiency  at  school.  It  is 
on  mangling  and  clear-starching,  of  the  price  of  coal  or  of 
potatoes.  The  questions  of  the  child,  that  should  be  the 
very  outpourings  of  curiosity  in  idleness,  are  marked  with 
forecast  and  melancholy  providence. 

"  It  has  come  to  be  a  woman  before  it  was  a  child.  It 
has  learned  to  go  to  market ;  it  chaffers,  it  haggles,  it  en- 
vies, it  murmurs ;  it  is  knowing,  acute,  and  sharpened.  It 
never  prattles.  Have  we  not  reason  to  say,  that  the  home 
of  the  very  poor  is  no  home." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  143 

One  cause  of  the  expense  of  living  in  large  cities  is  the 
waste  of  food.  Hired  girls,  not  being  of  a  philosophic  turn 
of  mind,  cook  too  large  a  quantity,  and  then  the  excess  is 
thrown  away.  This  will  come  to  an  end  when  the  lady  of 
the  house  does  her  own  cooking.  In  Cincinnati  there  are 
hundreds  of  carts  that  go  around  and  collect  this  wasted 
food.  Could  the  waste  that  is  in  a  large  city  be  put  on 
land,  it  doubles  its  fertility.  These  scavengers,  were  they  to 
cultivate  land  thus  highly  manured,  would  lessen  the  hard 
toils  of  other  cultivators. 

There  are  in  a  large  city  many  peddlers  of  peanuts,  ap- 
ples, soaps,  needles,  tape,  and  thread.  Many  of  these  as- 
pired to  be  splendid  merchants  and  failed.  Some  have  been 
clerks,  their  places  were  supplied  by  those  younger  than  they 
were.  These  consume.  Do  they  produce  ?  Let  the  young 
man  look  on  them  and  be  warned,  and  resolve  to  be  a  me- 
chanic and  farmer,  and  he  will  have  something.  If  he  la- 
bors from  twenty  to  sixty  years  of  age,  he  will  have  done 
12,000  days'  work.  At  the  close  of  life  he  may  have  6,000 
of  these  days'  work  around  him,  in  the  form  of  a  beautiful 
garden,  farm,  and  home. 

The  laborer,  who  is  the  foundation  of  society,  should  ask 
himself:  Are  all  the  classes  in  society  useful?  can  not  some 
be  dispensed  with  ?  There  are  in  large  cities,  eating  up 
the  substance  of  the  people,  a  class  of  men  called  Life  In- 
surance Companies.  The  managers  say  if  a  healthy  per- 
son gives  a  stipulated  and  annual  sum  for  life,  they  will  give 
at  his  death,  to  surviving  friends  $1,000.  The  twenty-third 
annual  report  of  "The  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company" 
contains  the  names  of  200  persons  who  died  in  1865.  A 
person  paid  to  them  $7.62,  and  his  friends  received  $1,000. 
Another  paid  $193,  his  friends  received  $20,000.  Another 
paid  $3,071,  his  friends  received  $3,000.  The  receipts  of 


144  THE  LABORER; 

the  year  1865  were  $2,998,130.  The  disbursements  were 
$1,540,130,  which  left  a  gain  of  $1,448,000.  This  is  sup- 
posed to  be  divided  among  the  policy  holders.  The  ex- 
penses for  postage,  advertising,  medical  examinations,  sa- 
laries, stationery,  and  printing  was  $212,000.  The  mo- 
tives in  both  parties  is  to  make  gain  out  of  each  other. 
The  Commercial  tells  us  that  these  companies  owe  those 
who  have  insured  with  them  $800,000,000.  These  com- 
panies have  received  $44,000,000.  One  thing  is  very  cer- 
tain, the  people  who  own  and  manage  these  institutions, 
must  be  paid  for  their  work.  For  their  share  they  probably 
receive  $15,000,000.  As  $500  will  supply  a  person's  wants 
for  a  year,  it  follows  that  30,000  persons  are  kept  in  idle- 
ness, who  can  make  on  the  Miles  Greenwood  loom  in  a 
year  270,000,000  yards  of  cloth.  Money  obtained  by  life 
insurance  is  soon  gone,  and  then  the  family  are  as  help- 
less as  ever.  If  the  insurer  had  gone  to  the  country,  and 
made  a  farm,  taught  his  family  spinning  and  weaving,  they 
would  have  a  constant  support. 

Mary  Wollstonecraft  says:  "Woman  thus  infallibly  be- 
comes the  solace  of  men  when  they  are  so  weak  in  body 
and  mind  that  they  can  not  exert  themselves,  unless  to 
pursue  some  frothy  pleasure  or  to  invent  some  frivolous 
fashion.  What  a  melancholy  sight  it  is  to  see  numerous 
Carriages  that  drive  in  the  cities  full  of  pale-faced  ladies ! " 
Many  evils  will  cease  when  laborers  leave  the  cities.  They 
are  no  longer  places  of  refuge  for  fugitive  slaves.  Labor- 
ers living  in  cities  are  slaves  to  landlords  and  merchants. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


COMMERCE    AND    TRADE. 


COMMERCE,  ITS  ORIGIN — MANKIND  NEEDED  COMMERCE  TO  IMPROVE  THEIR 
CONDITION — ITS  EVILS  AND  REMEDY — FRANKLIN'S  OPINIONS  OF  COM- 
MERCE— REV.  SIDNEY  SMITH'S  OPINIONS  OF  COMMERCE. 

"The  decay  of  commerce  is  a  nation's  strength." — WILLIAM  PITT. 

INGS  and  nobles  have  started  legislation,  which 
may  be  defined,  the  art  of  keeping  mankind  poor. 
Commerce  will  do  this  most  effectually.  Frank- 
lin defines  commerce  to  be  "The  exchanging  of  the  nec- 
essaries of  life  for  superfluities.  It  is  giving  our  victuals 
and  clothes  to  the  islands  for  rum  and  sugar." 

That  kings  and  courtiers  believed  in  keeping  the  people 
poor  may  be  inferred  from  some  of  their  expressions.  Car- 
dinal Richelieu  says:  "If  the  people  were  well  off,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  keep  them  within  legal  bounds."  In 
the  play  of  "Jane  Shore"  is  this  language:  "The  restive 
knaves  are  overrun  with  ease,  as  plenty  is  the  nurse  of  fac- 
tion." Robert  Owen  was  traveling  in  Europe  ;  a  great  din- 
ner was  made  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  him  into  a  con- 
troversy with  M.  Gentz,  a  famous  politician,  and  a  cham- 
pion of  a  different  school  of  reform.  M.  Gentz  enjoyed 
"the  full  confidence  of  the  leading  despots  of  Europe," 
and  was  secretary  of  the  congress  of  sovereigns,  then  about 
to  assemble  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Mr.  Owen  opened  to  the 
company  his  scheme  for  the  improvement  of  the  human 


146  THE  LABORER; 


race,  and  for  arranging  the  social  machinery,  "so  as  to  sat- 
urate society  at  all  times  with  wealth  sufficient  to  amply 
supply  all  its  wants  through  life."  M.  Gentz  was  asked 
for  a  reply  ;  and,  to  Mr.  Owen's  surprise,  said  :  "  We  know 
very  well  what  you  say  is  true ;  but  how  can  we  govern 
the  masses  if  they  were  wealthy  and  so  independent  of  us." 
Mr.  Owen  had  engraved  a  picture  of  what  society  might 
be  if  reformed.  He  showed  this  to  Lord  Lauderdale,  who 
looked  at  it  attentively,  and  then  suddenly  exclaimed,  "  Oh 
I  see  it  all !  Nothing  could  be  more  complete  for  the 
poor  and  working  classes.  But  what  is  to  become  of  us  ?'" 

Bulwer,  in  his  "England  and  the  English,"  tells  us  of 
a  savage  chief,  who  looked  for  some  time  at  a  printing  press 
in  operation,  and  then  said  :  "  If  that  was  among  my  people 
I  could  not  rule  them."  Montesquieu,  in  his  "Spirit  of  the 
Laws,"  tells  us  that  the  Turkish  rulers  plundered  their  sub- 
jects as  close  as  possible,  to  keep  them  from  revolting.  A 
people  must  have  some  accumulations  of  food,  when  they 
go  to  war. 

Gov.  Hammond,  when  he  said  "that  in  all  social  sys- 
tems there  must  be  a  class  to  do  the  mean  duties  of  life," 
knew  that  there  must  be  some  custom  or  usage,  or  some 
acts  of  legislating,  some  carrying  away  of  the  people's  food, 
or  selling  away  the  public  lands  to  favorites  and  specula- 
tors-, or  granting  them  to  railroads  which  introduce  habits 
of  luxury  to  the  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many.  These 
acts  make  drudges  of  a  part  of  the  people.  This  senator 
knew,  and  many  of  the  others  knew  that  a  state  of  univer- 
sal riches  and  equality  would  give  them  no  needle  drudges 
to  prepare  for  their  wives  and  daughters  costly  robes,  or 
kitchen  drudges  to  prepare  highly-wrought  and  costly  food. 
A  system  that  makes  senators  do  drudgery  will  not  do. 

*  Life  of  ROBERT  OWEN,  by  Ashmead  and  Evans,  Philadelphia,  1865. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  147 

Says  D'Israeli,in  his  "Curiosities  of  Literature :"  "That 
the  Romans  did  not  practice  the  art  of  printing  can  not  but 
excite  our  astonishment,  since  they  really  possessed  the  art, 
and  may  be  said  to  have  enjoyed  it,  unconscious  of  their 
rich  possession.  I  have  seen  the  Roman  stereotypes,  or 
printing  immovable  types,  with  which  they  stamped  their 
pottery.  How,  in  daily  practicing  the  art,  though  confined 
to  this  object,  it  did  not  occur  to  so  ingenious  a  people  to 
print  their  literary  works,  is  not  easily  accounted  for.  Did 
the  wise  and  grave  senate  dread  those  inconveniences  which 
attended  its  indiscriminate  use?" 

The  Marquis  D'Arginson  says  :  "Trading  centralization 
tends  to  make  the  world  a  single  kingdom,  plundered  by  a 
multitude  of  intendants"  (superintendents.)  From  these 
sentiments  we  may  learn  that  legislation  is  a  means  to 
keep  the  people  poor  and  in  ignorance,  which  commerce 
can  accomplish. 

After  the  conquest  of  England  the  villains  and  vassals 
of  the  nobility  had  only  themselves  and  their  masters  to 
support.  The  lord,  to  keep  his  people  poor,  had  only  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  his  retainers.  As  soon  as  commerce, 
or  rather  ships,  were  invented,  then  the  food  could  be  car- 
ried away.  As  seamen  were  wanted  to  navigate  these  ships, 
they  would  be  taken  from  the  working  classes,  which  would 
lessen  their  number.  The  workers  would  have  to  feed  and 
clothe  themselves,  their  masters,  and  the  seamen.  The 
ship  is  laden  with  food  and  clothing,  and  it  sails  to  Brazil. 
The  natives  are  engaged  at  those  pursuits  that  are  useful — 
they  are  creating  food  and  clothes.  The  captain  says  to 
the  natives,  "  Quit  your  useful  labors,  and  go  to  seeking  dia- 
monds, for  which  we  will  give  you  food  and  clothes."  The 
poor  working  people  of  England  have  now  to  clothe  and 
feed  these  diamond  seekers.  Another  ship  is  laden  with 


148  THE  LABORER; 

food  and  clothing,  requiring  more  sailors  to  be  taken  from 
the  industrious  classes.  The  ship  goes  to  Ceylon.  The 
captain  says  to  the  natives,  "  Your  labor  produces  food  and- 
clothes,  if  you  will  quit  that  labor  and  dive  for  pearls,  we 
will  give  you  food  and  clothes  for  your  labor/'  Another 
ship  is  laden  with  food  and  clothing,  requiring  more  sailors 
from  the  industrious  classes.  This  freight  is  taken  away  to 
Mexico,  and  for  it  the  people  are  set  to  work  seeking  for 
silver,  gold,  dye-stuffs,  sandal-wood,  and  many  other  use- 
less things.  The  scholars  of  America,  the  men  with  cer- 
tificates of  learning  written  on  sheepskin,  can  not  deny 
that  sailors  come  from  the  working  classes,  and  to  feed  and 
clothe  these  lessens  the  scanty  stores  of  those  who  remain 
to  do  useful  work.  It  can  not  be  denied  that  those  who 
seek  for  gold,  silver,  diamonds,  and  pearls,  are  clothed  and 
fed  at  the  expense  of  the  poor  workers  of  England.  If  all 
this  useless  commerce  were  to  come  to  an  end,  what  a  relief 
it  would  bring.  Those  who  produce  the  values  that  ob- 
tain the  products  of  the  mines  and  the  sea,  do  not  enjoy 
any  part  of  them.  To  see  a  person  bedecked  with  diamonds 
ought  to  fill  the  just  mind  with  indignation  and  sorrow. 
To  see  so  much  labor  wasted  should  give  pain. 

The  Rev.  Sidney  Smith  says :  "  Every  rock  in  the  ocean 
where  a  cormorant  can  perch  is  occupied  by  British  troops, 
has  a  governor,  deputy  governor,  store-keeper,  and  deputy 
store-keeper,  and  will  soon  have  an  archdeacon  and  a  bish- 
op ;  military  college,  with  thirty-four  professors,  educating 
seventeen  ensigns  per  annum — being  half  an  ensign  for 
each  professor — with  every  species  of  nonsense,  athletic, 
sartorial,  aud  plumigerous.  'A  just  and  necessary  war* 
costs  this  country  above  one  hundred  pounds  per  minute. 
A  pension  for  a  man  who  broke  his  head  at  the  pole — to 
another  who  had  his  leg  shot  at  the  Equator;  subsidies  to 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRON&S.  149 

Persia ;  secret  service  money  to  Thibet ;  an  annuity  to  Lady 
Henry  Somebody,  and  her  seven  daughters,  the  husband 
having  been  shot  at  some  place,  where  we  ought  never  to 
have  had  any  soldiers  at  all.  Such  a  scene  of  extravagance, 
corruption,  and  expense,  must  paralyze  industry,  and  mar 
the  fortunes  of  the  most  industrious  people  that  have  ever 
existed." 

The  evils  of  commerce  have  been  necessary  to  improve 
mankind.  There  are  inventions  made  all  over  the  earth. 
Visiting  and  intercourse  with  other  nations  gives  us  the 
opportunities  of  obtaining  these  inventions,  and  it  would  be 
the  means  of  improveing  navigation.  No  doubt  the  ancient 
inhabitants  felt  themselves  injured  and  impoverished  to  see 
their  numbers  lessened,  and  their  food  and  clothes  taken  to 
foreign  countries,  to  be  exchanged  for  very  foolish  things. 
Their  sufferings  were  to  confer  a  benefit  on  future  genera- 
tions— it  was  to  give  to  over-crowded  nations  the  means  of 
going  to  other  lands.  Were  commerce  to  be  abolished  the 
poor  would  find  some  relief. 

UA  Chinese  emperor,  of  the  family  of  Tangs,  said :  '  Our 
family  held  it  as  a  maxim,  that  if  there  was  a  man  who  did 
not  work,  or  a  woman  that  was  idle,  some  one  must  suffer 
cold  or  hunger  in  the  empire.'  On  this  principle  he  ordered 
a  number  of  the  monasteries  of  the  bonzes  (priests)  to  be 
destroyed. 

"  The  third  emperor  of  the  twenty-first  dynasty,  to  whom 
some  precious  stones  were  brought  that  they  had  found  in 
a  mine,  he  ordered  it  to  be  shut  up,  not  choosing  to  fatigue 
his  people,  in  working  for  a  thing  that  could  neither  clothe 
nor  feed  them. 

iC  In  employing  so  many  persons  in  making  clothes  for 
one  person  is  the  way  to  prevent  a  great  many  people  from 
getting  clothes.  There  are  ten  men  who  eat  the  fruits  of 


150  *          THE  LABORER; 

the  earth  to  one  employed  in  agriculture,  and  is  the  means 
to  prevent  numbers  from  getting  nourishment."  * 

Franklin  wrote  a  letter  to  Benjamin  Vaughan,  Esq.,  in 
1784:  "It  is  wonderful  how  the  affairs  of  the  world  are 
managed.  Naturally  one  would  imagine  that  the  interests 
of  a  few  individuals  would  give  way  to  general  interest. 
But  individuals  manage  their  affairs  with  so  much  more  ap- 
plication, industry,  and  address  than  the  public  do  theirs. 
We  assemble  parliaments  and  councils,  to  have  the  benefit 
of  their  collective  wisdom,  but  we  necessarily  have  at  the 
same  time  the  inconvenience  of  their  collective  passions, 
prejudices,  and  private  interests.  By  the  help  of  these,  art- 
ful men  overpower  wisdom  and  dupe  its  possessors ;  and  if 
we  may  judge  by  the  acts,  arrets,  and  edicts,  all  the  world 
over,  for  regulating  commerce,  an  assembly  of  wise  men  is 
an  assembly  of  the  greatest  fools  on  earth. 

"  I  have  not  thought  of  a  remedy  for  luxury.  I  am  not 
sure  that,  in  a  great  state,  it  is  capable  of  a  remedy,  nor  that 
it  is  so  great  an  evil  as  represented.  Suppose  we  include 
in  the  definition  of  luxury  all  unnecessary  expense,  then  let 
us  consider  whether  laws  to  prevent  such  expense  are  pos- 
sible to  be  executed  in  a  great  country,  and  whether,  if 
they  could  be  executed,  our  people  would  be  happier  or 
even  richer.  Is  not  the  hope  of  being  one  day  able  to  pur- 
chase and  enjoy  luxuries  a  great  spur  to  labor  and  indus- 
try? May  not  luxury  produce  more  than  it  consumes, 
if,  without  such  a  spur,  people  would  be,  as  they  naturally 
are,  inclined  to  be  lazy  and  indolent?  To  this  purpose  I  re- 
member a  circumstance:  The  skipper  of  a  shallop,  em- 
ployed between  Cape  May  and  Philadelphia,  had  done  us 
some  small  service,  for  which  he  refused  to  be  paid.  My 
wife,  understanding  he  had  a  daughter,  sent  her  as  a  present 

*  History  of  China,  by  Father  Du  HALDE,  quoted  in  the  "  Spirit  of  the  Laws." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  151 

a  new-fashioned  cap.  Three  years  after,  this  skipper  was 
at  my  house  with  an  old  farmer  of  Cape  May,  his  passen- 
ger. He  mentioned  the  cap, and  how  much  his  daughter  had 
been  pleased  with  it.  Said  he :  c  It  proved  a  dear  cap  to  our 
congregation.  When  my  daughter  appeared  with  it  at  meet- 
ing it  was  so  much  admired  that  all  the  girls  resolved  to  get 
such  caps  from  Philadelphia ;  and  my  wife  and  I  computed 
that  they  could  not  have  cost  less  than  one  hundred  pounds/ 
Said  the  farmer:  cTrue,  but  you  do  not  tell  the  whole 
story.  I  think  the  cap  was,  nevertheless,  an  advantage  to 
us;  for  it  was  the  first  thing  that  set  our  girls  to  knitting 
worsted  mittens,  for  sale  at  Philadelphia,  that  they  might 
have  wherewithal  to  buy  caps  and  ribbons  there ;  and,  do 
you  know,  the  industry  has  continued  ever  since,  and  is 
likely  to  continue  to  increase  in  value,  and  answer  better 
purposes.  Upon  the  whole,  I  was  more  reconciled  to  this 
little  piece  of  luxury,  since  not  only  the  girls  were  made 
happier  by  having  fine  caps,  but  by  supplying  you  with 
warm  mittens.' 

"  In  our  commercial  towns  upon  the  sea  coast  fortunes 
will  be  made.  Some  who  grow  rich  will  be  prudent,  live 
within  bounds,  and  preserve  what  they  have  gained  for 
their  posterity  ;  others,  fond  of  showing  their  wealth,  will  be 
extravagant  and  ruin  themselves.  Laws  can  not  prevent 
this.  In  some  cases,  indeed,  certain  modes  of  luxury  may  be 
a  public  evil,  in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  a  private  one.  If 
there  be  a  nation,  for  instance,  that  exports  its  beef  and 
mutton  to  pay  for  the  importation  of  claret  and  porter, 
while  a  great  part  of  its  people  live  upon  potatoes,  and  wear 
no  shirts,  wherein  does  it  differ  from  the  sot,  who  lets  his 
family  starve,  and  sells  his  clothes  to  buy  drink? 

"Our  American  commerce  is,  I  confess,  a  little  in  this 
way,  we  sell  our  victuals  to  the  islands  for  rum  and  sugar, 


152  THE  LABORER; 

the  necessaries  of  life  for  superfluities.  But  we  have  plenty, 
and  live  well,  nevertheless;  though,  by  being  the  soberer, 
we  might  be  richer. 

u  What  occasions  so  much  want  and  misery  ?  It  is  the 
employment  of  men  and  women  in  works  that  produce 
neither  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life — who,  with 
those  who  do  nothing,  consume  the  necessaries  raised  by 
the  laborious. 

"To  explain  this:  The  first  elements  of  wealth  are  ob- 
tained by  labor  from  the  earth  and  waters.  I  have  land 
and  raise  corn  ;  with  this  if  I  feed  a  family  that  does  noth- 
ing ;  my  corn  will  be  consumed,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
I  shall  be  no  richer  than  I  was  at  the  beginning.  But  if 
while  I  feed  them  I  employ  them,  some  at  spinning,  others 
in  making  bricks  for  building,  etc.  I  employ  a  man  in  fiddling 
for  me ;  the  corn  he  eats  is  gone ;  I  have  no  wealth  or  con- 
veniences added  to  the  family.  I  shall,  therefore,  be  the 
poorer  for  this  fiddling  man,  unless  the  rest  of  my  family 
work  more  or  eat  less,  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency  he 
occasions. 

"  Look  round  the  world  and  see  millions  employed  in 
doing  nothing,  or  something  that  amounts  to  nothing,  when 
the  necessaries  of  life  are  in  question.  What  is  the  bulk  of 
commerce  for  which  we  fight  and  destroy  each  other  but 
the  toil  of  millions  for  superfluities,  to  the  great  hazard  and 
loss  of  many  lives,  by  the  constant  dangers  of  the  sea  ? 
How  much  labor  is  spent  in  building  and  in  fitting  great 
ships,  to  go  to  China  and  Arabia  for  tea  and  coffee,  to  the 
West  Indies  for  sugar,  to  America  for  tobacco  ?  These 
things  can  not  be  called  necessaries,  as  our  ancestors  did 
very  well  without  them. 

UA  question  might  be  asked :  Could  all  these  people  now 
employed  in  raising,  making,  or  carrying  superfluities,  be 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  153 

subsisted  by  raising  necessaries  ?  I  think  they  might.  The 
world  is  large  and  a  great  part  of  it  is  uncultivated.  Many 
hundred  millions  of  acres  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  are 
still  in  forests,  and  even  a  great  deal  in  Europe.  On  a 
hundred  acres  of  this  forest,  a  man  might  become  a  sub- 
stantial farmer. 

"It  is,  however,  some  comfort  to  reflect  that,  upon  the 
whole,  the  quantity  of  industry  and  prudence  among  man- 
kind exceeds  the  quantity  of  idleness  and  folly;  hence 
the  increase  of  good  buildings,  cultivated  farms,  and  popu- 
lous cities,  filled  with  wealth,  all  over  Europe,  which,  a  few 
ages  since,  were  only  to  be  found  on  the  Mediterranean ; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  mad  wars  continually  raging,  by 
which  are  often  destroyed  in  one  year  the  works  of  many 
years  of  peace.  So  that  the  luxury  of  a  few  merchants  on 
the  sea-coasts  will  not  be  the  ruin  of  America." 

Merchants  and  lawyers  rule  this  country.  It  is  their  in- 
terest to  promote  luxury  and  corruption.  There  are  many 
who  wish  and  desire  that  American  cities  may  have  millions 
living  in  them,  so  as  they  can  live  by  the  corruption  and 
crime  that  cities  cause.  There  have  been  many  writers  on 
Political  Economy,  and  none  make  this  subject  as  clear  in 
a  few  words  as  our  illustrious  Franklin. 

Commerce  comes  from  the  Latin  word  "commercicum." 
Its  carrying  gives  excessive  toil  to  many  of  the  human 
family.  It  is  the  duty  of  mankind  to  do  away  with  carry- 
ing as  much  as  possible.  Take  the  example  of  two  men: 
one  goes  and  settles  on  eighty  acres  of  government  land, 
in  two  years  he  has  a  quantity  of  land  cleared  sufficient  to 
give  support  to  himself  and  wife.  This  farmer  keeps  on 
clearing  land.  As  his  children  grow  up  they  begin  to  plow 
and  plant.  A  hired  man  is  set  to  work ;  this  gives  the  far- 
mer ease  from  his  toils,  and  his  riches  begin  to  increase. 


154  THE  LABORER; 

He  lives  like  a  prince,  and  has  an  appetite  for  his  food.  He 
has  the  finest  white  wheat  flour,  which  his  wife  knows  how 
to  mix  with  milk,  butter,  and  home-made  yeast.  *  This 
is  baked,  when  it  becomes  light  and  puffy.  The  farmer  has 
for  his  breakfast  sweet  butter,  new-laid  eggs,  young  chick- 
ens, and  delicious  sugar-cured  ham.  No  prince  or  nobles 
fare  better  than  this,  though  they  may  be  able  to  get  some 
simple  ones  to  leave  the  pleasures  of  home,  to  risk  their 
lives,  to  ransack  sea  and  earth  for  some  strange  luxury  not 
worth  eating,  and  it  is  only  eaten  because  it  has  cost  a  large 
sum.  The  farmer's  food  is  varied — his  chickens  are  baked, 
boiled,  and  fried.  To  this  is  added  fat,  tender  beef,  lamb, 
turkeys,  and  a  sucking  pig.  The  plan  among  farmers  is  to 
kill  by  turns  and  then  divide.  The  farmer's  wife  stews  all 
kinds  of  fruits  in  their  season,  which  makes  quite  a  pleas- 
ing variety  to  the  farmer's  food.  When  strawberries  are 
in  season,  the  wife  presses  out  their  juices,  or  they  are  dis- 
charged by  boiling.  The  juices  are  gently  boiled  down  or 
concentrated.  In  this  manner  cherries,  raspberries,  black- 
berries, whortleberries,  black,  red,  and-  white  currants, 
plums,  peaches,  pears,  apricots,  and  grapes  are  preserved, 
or  rather  the  fine  flavor  they  possess.  These  juices  are 
preserved  in  little  jars.  The  farmer's  wives  take  m«ch 
pride  in  showing  their  friends  their  closet-shelves  covered 
with  these  jars.  These  fruits  are  dried  and  stored  away  to 
make  future  puddings  and  pies.  The  wife,  prepares  as  a 
substitute  for  coffee,  dried  and  burnt  sweet  potatoes,  which 
when  mixed  with  cream  and  sugar,  can  not  be  distinguished 
from  the  coffee  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  which  is  the  nearest  cof- 
fee mart  to  us.  This  coffee  is  paid  for  by  giving  in  ex- 

*  This  is  a  harmless  compound,  it  is  made  from  a  fluid  obtained  by  boiling 
hops  in  water,  and  mixing  with  boiled  potatoes.  City  people  use  much  soda 
and  alum  in  their  bread.  The  alum  whitens  bad  flour,  put  in  by  bakers. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  155 

change  cottons,  shoes,  hats,  and  other  useful  things.  The 
Brazilians  do  not  want  gewgaws,  or  even  money.  This 
farmer  is  not  often  sick ;  a  plentiful  supply  of  fruit  or  their 
juices  cures  and  prevents  disease.  This  farmer  does  not 
get  his  life  insured,  thereby  keeping  a  parcel  of  idle  men  to 
eat  up  what  the  industrious  produce.  This  farmer  is  never 
gloomy,  or  thinks  of  taking  away  his  life.* 

A  young  man  chooses  to  work  for  the  carriers,  the  men 
who  own  railroads  and  live  like  princes.  This  man's  busi- 
ness is  to  roll  barrels,  and  lift  boxes  in  and  out  of  the  cars. 
This  work  is  hard,  as  hard  as  farming.  This  hard  work  is 
constant — the  same  throughout  life.  If  this  man  marries  he 
will  live  in  a  town  and  give  half  of  his  earnings  to  his  land- 
lord and  merchant.  The  probabilities  are  that  this  man 
will  be  poor.  At  his  death  his  daughters  will  have  to  go 
to  servitude,  or  become  milliners,  working  many  together  in 
an  ill-lighted  room. 

The  farmer  is  the  only  one  who  toils  and  has  abundance. 
Has  he  a  natural  right  to  keep  others  poor  and  mean,  that 
he  may  have  fine  clothing  and  luxuries  ?  This  compromise 
must  be  made ;  the  farmer  must  work  in  the  fields  in  the 
summer,  and  at  mechanical  pursuits  in  the  winter,  as 

*When  the  writer  was  setting  up  the  first  part  of  Franklin's  letter,  an  artist 
from  the  opposite  room  came  to  the  door — having  in  his  arms  his  pupil,  saying, 
"  Oh  Dealtry  !  my  partner  has  stabbed  himself!"  The  wound  was  nearly  fatal. 
This  was  the  third  attempt  to  take  life,  the  first  was  an  attempt  to  throw  him- 
self from  a  window  six  stories  high,  the  second  was  to  take  laudanum.  Both 
attempts  were  prevented.  He  is  twenty-one,  and  has  been  seven  years  try- 
ing to  be  an  artist.  He  was  in  a  despondent  state  of  mind;  the  future  looked 
dark.  His  teacher  read  to  him  my  description  how  the  farmers  live,  and  it 
pleased  him.  He  inquired  :  "  If  he  was  to  go  and  get  a  piece  of  land,  could  he 
sell  paintings?"  I  replied,  "That  farmers  liked  to  exchange  labor,  and  would 
help  him."  I  told  him  the  story  of  the  spendthrift  in  "  Foster's  Decision  of 
Character."  A  man  spent  his  patrimony;  he  resolved  to  be  rich  again  ;  he 
asked  if  he  could  shovel  some  coals,  for  which  he  got  some  food  and  money. 
He  accumulated  $3,000,000  from  small  savings  and  a  willingness  to  work. 


156  THE  LABORER; 

was  done  eighty  years  ago.  Clothing  lasted  four  times  as 
long  then  as  it  does  now.  It  was  hard  twisted  and  hard 
woven.  Cloth  is  now  mixed  with  "shoddy."  This  vile 
stuff  is  put  in  flannels  and  blankets.  If  persons  could  see 
the  bales  of  dirty  clothing  and  blankets  that  go  to  shoddy 
mills,  they  would  be  dissatisfied  with  factory  cloth. 

William  Arthur,  A.  M.,  a  Wesleyan  minister,  says: 
"  Have  you  ever  seen  a  shoddy  mill  ?  It  is  a  curious  sight. 
You  find  a  multitude  of  rags  and  tatters  gathered  from  all 
the  winds — here  a  patch  of  Irish  frieze,  there  a  shred  of 
tartan ;  scraps  of  women's  shawls,  of  men's  pantaloons,  of 
flannels,  horse-rugs,  stockings  ;  threads,  snips,  and  morsels; 
blue,  black,  green  and  all  hues — English,  Welsh,  and  Ger- 
man ;  a  strange  heap  of  the  outcast  and  the  defiled  ;  hope- 
less things  that  no  housewife  could  work  up,  that  no  shiver- 
ing wretch  would  look  to  for  comfort.  Yet  there  they  are 
for  restoration.  See  how  that  teethed  and  terrible  machine 
makes  them  look  more  hopeless  still ;  rends  up  even  rags, 
tears  up  small  tatters;  champs,  wrests,  slashes,  and  flings 
them  out  at  last  fibers  and  choking  dust.  But  next  comes 
the  oil-can,  and  oil,  abundant  oil,  with  working  and  turning, 
till  the  heap  begins  to  look  like  some  caricature  of  wool. 
Then  the  spinning  frame,  and  lo !  the  tatters  form  to  yarn 
once  more ;  then  the  loom, where  the  tatters  turn  to  blank- 
ets, druggets,  pilot  cloth,  and  even  what  would  pass  under 
your  eye  as  decent  broad  cloth.  This  shoddy  covers  many 
a  respectable  floor,  flourishes  in  paletots  of  low  caste,  and 
goes  out  in  blue  blankets  to  New  Zealand  to  clothe  the 
Maories. 

"  Society  has  its  shoddy,  its  offcast  rags,  its  hopeless  tat- 
ters, polluted  and  undesirable  to  touch.  The  respectable 
world  passeth  them  by.  The  Gospel  in  men's  hearts  has 
set  them  to  search  for  the  refuse  to  work  them  into  society." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  157 

Shoddy  machines  can  not  be  defended,  they  are  an  out- 
rage on  human  society.  When  shoddy  is  not  mixed  into 
cloth  it  will  last  five  times  longer.  We  take  men  from 
the  work-shop  and  the  plow  to  be  inspectors  of  whisky  and 
flour,  and  other  things.  No  one  seems  to  take  any  note,  or 
give  us  any  plan  to  save  the  wool  from  being  destroyed. 
Shoddy  is  worked  into  all  the  low-priced  woolens,  and  it  is 
worn  by  the  humble  work  people,  who  do  so  much  for  the 
happiness  of  men.  The  Scientific  American  gave  a  draw- 
ing of  the  machine,  in  the  year  1860,  or  near  that  time. 
In  1 86 1,  the  writer  purchased  a  pair  of  pantaloons;  they  were 
woven  smooth  and  thick.  They  proved  very  treacherous, 
and  did  not  last  while  teaching  a  three-months'  school.  A 
farmer  said,  "Why  is  it  your  pantaloons  have  to  be  patched 
so  soon."  Having  been  in  a  shoddy  mill  I  promptly  re- 
plied, u  They  are  made  of  shoddy,  or  devils'  dust^  which  is 
the  dust  of  old  clothes  woven  into  long  wool,  at  the  rate  of 
one-third,  dust  and  two-thirds  wool."  Said  the  farmer, 
41  See,  my  pantaloons  are  not  patched,  they  are  home-spun, 
and  have  lasted  three  years.  I  have  chopped  wood  and 
harvested  in  them." 

It  is  a  problem  worthy  of  discussion  how  ought  wool  to 
be  spun  and  woven  so  as  to  be  the  most  durable  ?  Good 
wool  is  often  badly  spun  and  woven.  The  cloth  is  ill  made 
into  clothing.  Leather  is  often  spoiled  by  a  bad  method 
of  making.  The  best  method  of  making  the  most  durable 
cloth  will  help  to  shorten  toil.  This  appeared  in  the 
Commercial  paper:  "James  Ferguson,  of  Barnett,  Vt.,  is 
now  ninety-seven  years  old,  is  in  vigorous  intellect,  and  he 
works  every  day.  He  wears  a  coat  of  cloth  woven  one- 
hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,  in  Bushlivat,  Scotland."  The 
writer  when  a  boy,  was  told  by  an  aged  Englishman,  in  the 

days  of  home-spun,  that  two  suits  lasted  a  laborer  a  lifetime. 
15 


158  THE  LABORER; 

It  seems  as  if  the  time  were  coming  round  again  when 
cloth  will  be  spun  and  woven  in  the  family.  This  is  to  be  in- 
ferred from  the  many  contrivances  that  we  see  in  a  State 
fair  for  family  spinning. 

Shakspeare  puts  this  language  into  the  mouth  of  one  of 
his  characters :  u  I  am  a  true  laborer ;  I  raise  my  own  flee- 
ces, I  spin  them,  I  wear  them."  Happy  man !  may  this 
again  soon  be  the  condition  of  every  humble  laborer !  If 
the  farmer  sends  his  wool  to  be  spun  in  New  England,  the 
cloth  will  be  very  high  in  price.  The  merchant  has  to 
send  wheat  to  pay  for  spinning  the  wool.  If  a  bushel  of 
wheat  is  worth  in  Ohio  one  dollar  a  bushel,  and  the  car- 
riage to  New  England  is  fifty  cents,  which  will  make  the 
bushel  of  wheat  worth  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents — if  the 
spinner  or  weaver  get  one  dollar  and  a  half  a  day, they  have 
each  a  bushel  of  wheat  for  their  days'  labor.  These  two 
persons  have  in  a  day  worked  up  a  certain  quantity  of  wool. 
The  carriage  of  this  wool  costs  a  dollar.  The  carriage  of 
the  cloth  to  Ohio  costs  a  dollar.  The  merchant  charges 
one  dollar  for  his  trouble  in  sending  the  wool  to  be  spun 
and  to  bring  back  the  cloth.  The  farmer,  to  get  this  cloth, 
has  to  give  six  bushels  of  wheat  for  it.  One  bushel  of  the 
wheat  goes  to  feed  those  who  carried  it.  Two  bushels 
feed  those  who  carried  the  wool  and  cloth.  The  merchant 
consumes  one  bushel.  Had  these  two  mechanics  made  the 
cloth  in  the  vicinity  of  the  farmer,  and  received  the  two 
bushels  of  wheat  from  him,  the  farmer  would  have  saved  the 
four  bushels  of  wheat.  If  the  farmer  had  made  the  cloth 
himself,  he  would  have  saved  the  six  bushels  of  wheat. 

Merchants  rule  the  American  people,  to  gratify  their  own 
selfish  ends  and  acquire  wealth.  Merchants  are  to  modern 
society  what  the  barons  were  to  the  middle  ages. 

Judge  Hall  in  an  Address  to  the    "  Young  Men's  Mer- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  159 

candle  Association  of  Cincinnati,"  delivered,  April,  1846, 
says:  "It  will  require  but  little  reflection  to  satisfy  us, 
that  the  resources  of  this  country  are  controlled  chiefly  by 
that  class,  which,  in  our  peculiar  phraseology,  we  term 
'the  business  community' — embracing  all  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  great  occupation  of  buying  and  selling,  ex- 
changing, importing  and  exporting  merchandise,  and  in- 
clude the  banker,  the  broker,  and  the  underwriter.  I  have 
no  hesitation  in  asserting  that  they  employ  more  of  the  in- 
dustry, the  intellect,  and  the  wealth  of  the  American  people, 
than  all  other  employments  and  professions  united. 

"  Commerce  is  limited  only  by  the  boundaries  of  civilized 
intercourse.  It  employs  the  highest  energies  of  the  human 
intellect,  and  is  seen  in  the  most  magnificent  displays  of 
wealth  and  power.  The  vast  navies  that  circumnavigate 
the  globe  are  hers ;  great  cities  acknowledge  her  sway  •,  her 
merchants  are  Princes ;  the  revenues  of  great  and  mighty  na- 
tions are  under  her  control.  She  is  the  arbitress  of  war 
and  peace.'* 

Such  are  the  arrogant  claims  and  pretensions  of  the  com- 
mercial or  "business  community,"  the  money  princes  of 
the  world.  These  claims  are  not  just,  and  ought  to  be  re- 
sisted. Those  who  produce  all  the  wealth  of  the  country 
set  up  no  such  arrogant  claims  for  themselves,  and  are  un- 
willing to  allow  them  to  those  who  only  distribute  what 
the  industrious  laborer  produces. 

Much  of  this  misery  described  by  Carlyle  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  commerce,  which  takes  away  the  people's  comforts 
and  exchanges  them  for  unnecessary  trifles.  "  Between  our 
Black  West  Indies  and  our  white  Ireland,  between  those 
two  extremes  of  lazy  refusal  to  work,  and  famished  inabil 
ity  to  find  any  work,  what  a  world  we  have  made  of  it, 
with  our  fine  mammon  worship  and  our  benevolent  phi 


160  THE  LABORER; 

landerings,  and  idle  godless  nonsense  of  one  kind  or  another; 
Supply  and  demand.  Leave-it-alone.  Voluntary  principle. 
Time  will  mend  it ;  till  British  industry  and  all  existence 
seem  fast  becoming  one  huge  poison-swamp  of  reeking  pes- 
tilence, physical  and  moral ;  a  hideous,  living  golgotha  of 
souls  and  bodies  burnt  alive;  such  a  Curtius  gulph,  com- 
municating with  the  Nether  Deeps  as  the  sun  never  saw 
till  now.  Thirty  thousand  out-cast  needle  women  work- 
ing themselves  swiftly  to  death  ;  three  millions  of  paupers 
rotting  in  forced  idleness,  helping  said  needle  women  to  die: 
these  are  but  items  in  the  sad  ledger  of  despair.  Thirty 
thousand  wretched  women  sunk  in  that  putrefying  well  of 
abominations:  they  have  oozed  in  upon  London  from  the 
universal  Stygian  quagmire  of  British  industrial  life." 

Shelley,  when  a  boy  of  eighteen,  wrote  his  Queen  Mab. 
He  has  a  different  opinion  on  commerce  from  Judge  Hall. 
Very  few  believe  it  opens  the  door  to  famine  and  disease. 
It  is  the  truth. 

"  Hence  commerce  springs,  the  venal  interchange 
Of  all  that  human  art  or  nature  yields 
Which  wealth  should  purchase  not,  but  want  demand, 
And  natural  kindness  hasten  to  supply 
From  the  full  fountain  of  its  boundless  love, 
For  ever  stifled,  drained,  and  tainted  now. 
Commerce!   beneath  whose  poison  breathing  shade 
No  solitary  virtue  dares  to  spring, 
But  wealth  and  poverty  with  equal  hand 
Scatter  their  withering  curses,  and  unfold 
The  doors  of  premature  and  violent  death, 
To  pining  famine  and  full-fed  disease, 
To  all  that  shares  the  lot  of  human  life, 
Which  poisoned  soul  and  body,  scarce  drags  the  chain 
That  lengthens  as  it  goes  and  clanks  behind. 
Commerce  has  set  the  mark  of  selfishness, 
The  signet  of  its  all-enslaving  power, 
Upon  a  shining  ore,  and  called  it  gold : 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS  161 

Before  whose  image  bow  the  vulgar  great, 
The  vainly  rich,  the  miserable  proud, 
The  mob  of  peasants,  nobles,  priests,  and  kings, 
And  with  blind  feelings  reverence  the  power 
That  grinds  them  to  the  dust  of  misery. 
But  in  the  temple  of  their  hireling  hearts 
Gold  is  a  Jiving  god,  and  rules  in  scorn 
All  earthly  things  but  virtue." 

Abbe  Mably,  in  the  beginning  of  this  nation's  career,  gave 
to  the  Americans  this  advice:  "If  not  to  exclude  exterior 
commerce,  at  least  to  keep  it  within  bounds.  The  ruin  of 
republicanism  in  the  United  States  can  happen  only  from 
exterior  commerce.  It  is  by  great  quantities  of  articles  of 
luxury,  and  a  frivolous  taste,  that  commerce  will  corrupt 
their  morals,  and  without  pure  morals  a  republic  can  not 
exist." 

Dr  Price,  in  his  observations,  says :  "Alas  !  what  can  the 
United  States  import  from  Europe,  except  it  be  infection; 
I  tremble  in  thinking  on  the  furor  for  exterior  commerce 
that  is  going  to  turn  the  heads  of  the  Americans.  Every 
nation  spreads  nets  around  the  United  States,  and  caresses 
them  in  order  to  gain  a  preference;  but  self  interest  cau- 
tions them  to  beware  of  these  seductions."* 

The  Cincinnati  Commercial,  of  Jan.  27,  1868,  in  an  ar- 
ticle on  revolutions,  says:  "Thiers  refers  the  (French)  re- 
volution to  the  rationalistic  movement  of  Luther.  Accord- 
ing to  Louis  Blanc,  its  causes  sprung  from  the  ancient 
movement  of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague.  The  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  and  equality,  scattered  through  the  writings 
of  the  French  philosophers,  were  practically  established  in 
the  institutions  of  the  United  States,  in  1783.  To  the 
work  of  the  Abbe  Mably  on  the  American  revolution,  writ- 
ten while  it  was  still  in  progress,  may  be  attributed  much 

Quoted  in  Brissot  de  Warville  Travels,  in  North  America,  in  1787. 


1 62  THE  LABORER; 

influence  on  the  public  mind.  The  more  extended  work 
of  the  Abbe  Raynal  on  America  though  suppressed  by  au- 
thority, was  widely  influential  in  spreading  free  thought  in 
Europe.  At  the  same  time,  those  prolific  writers  Brissot 
de  Warville,  Claviere,  and  Turgot,  were  widely  read,  and 
all  of  them  had  much  to  say  regarding  the  triumph  of  Re- 
publicanism in  America,  and  the  glorious  future  about  to 
open  for  humanity  under  their  auspices." 

The  American  fathers  were  not  guided  by  these  men. 
Had  their  simple  plans  been  carried  out,  misery  would  have 
been  unknown,  the  condition  of  the  people  would  now  be 
more  equal.  Foreign  commerce  has  been  fostered,  the  land 
has  been  sold  and  given  away  for  speculation.  Lands  now 
can  not  be  had  except  in  the  regions  where  winters  are  very 
severe,  or  where  there  are  dangerous  Indians.  There  are 
unoccupied  lands  in  the  hands  of  speculators  sufficient  to 
keep  100,000,000  persons.  In  the  year  1868,  this  language 
was  used,  in  a  fourth  of  July  oration,  in  Cincinnati.  Dr 
Lilienthal,in  the  Broadway  Synagogue, said:  "In  the  North 
a  crushing  stagnation  of  business;  a  want  of  food  and  em- 
ployment drive  honest  but  starving  laborers  into  the  fangs 
of  despairing  suicide ;  bankruptcy  stares  and  peeps  into  the 
houses  of  well  established  merchants ;  and  last,  but  not 
least,  corruption  and  dishonesty  are  every-where.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  people  has  yielded  its  place  to  the  wealth  and 
success  of  the  few." 

Wm.  M.  Ramsey,  at  Lockland,  said:  "Unaccountably 
a  large  part  of  our  people  seem  to  be  betaking  themselves 
to  suicide.  Old  and  young,  of  both  sexes  and  of  every  sta- 
tion in  life,  are  flying  to  self-destruction.  To  my  mind  the 
present  political  situation  of  our  country  is  full  of  peril ;  its 
social  condition  full  of  evil.  Our  partisan  predilections 
lead  to  different  conclusions  on  the  same  facts." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  163 

Archbishop  Fenelon,  in  his  Telemachus,  tells  us  :  Cl  It  is 
a  detestable  maxim  that  the  security  of  a  prince  depends 
on  the  oppression  of  the  people.  If  you  place  your  people 
in  a  state  of  ease  and  plenty  they  will  labor  no  more ;  they 
will  become  insolent,  intractable,  and  factious;  weakness 
and  distress  only  can  render  them  supple  and  obedient.  By 
easing  your  people  you  will  degrade  the  royal  authority ; 
nothing  but  keeping  them  in  the  lowest  subjection  can  keep 
them  from  the  restlessness  of  discontent  and  the  turbu- 
lence of  faction." 

Fenelon  had  access  to  the  king  of  France.  He  was  the 
teacher  of  the  king's  son,  and  knew  some  of  the  court  se- 
crets, some  of  the  causes  that  oppressed  the  people.  This 
good,  upright  Catholic  prelate  was  banished  from  the  court; 
the  king  took  away  his  son,  and  did  not  speak  to  Fenelon 
for  four  years.  Kings  and  nobles  know  that  commerce  is 
a  means  of  keeping  the  people  poor.  American  statesmen 
know  that  commerce  will  make  fortunes  for  their  children, 
if  they  choose  its  pursuits.  Commerce  has  a  long  train  of 
evils,  among  them  is  war,  the  parent  of  hunger  and  want. 
All  modern  wars  have  their  causes  in  commerce.  The 
South  wanted  to  sell  their  cotton  in  Europe,  and  bring  back 
goods  duty  free.  The  North  said  no,  and  it  was  one  of 
the  causes  of  the  late  unhappy  war. 

Commerce  is  a  means  of  obtaining  great  wealth,  which  is 
an  injury  to  the  humble  classes.  They  have  to  be  oppressed 
so  as  to  give  the  rich  the  means  of  gratifying  luxury.  Lord 
Kames,  in  his  "History  of  Man,"  says:  "Between  the 
years  1740  and  1770,  six  of  the  mayors  of  London  died  in 
office,  a  greater  number  than  the  500  preceding  years : 
such  havoc  does  luxury  make.  ^Consider  the  quantity  of 
animal  and  vegetable  food  that  can  be  produced  on  land 
employed  entirely  in  raising  vines,  barley,  and  other  mate- 


164  THE  LABORER; 

rials  of  fermented  liquors.  The  existence  of  thousands  is 
destroyed  by  this  species  of  luxury.  The  indulging  in  soft 
beds,  downy  pillows,  and  easy  seats  is  a  species  of  luxury, 
because  it  tends  to  enervate  the  body,  and  to  render  it  unfit 
for  fatigue.  Nations,  where  luxury  is  unknown,  are  troub- 
led with  few  diseases,  and  have  but  few  physicians  by  pro- 
fession. In  the  early  ages  of  Rome,  women  and  slaves 
were  the  only  physicians,  because  vegetables  were  the  chief 
food  of  the  people,  who  were  constantly  employed  in  war 
or  in  husbandry.  When  luxury  prevailed  their  diseases 
multiplied,  and  physic  became  a  liberal  profession. 

"  Cookery  and  coaches  have  reduced  the  military  spirit 
of  the  English  nobility  and  gentry  to  a  languid  state  ;  over- 
loading the  body  has  infected  them  with  dispiriting  ailments  ; 
ease  and  indolence  has  banished  labor,  the  only  antidote  for 
such  ailments.  Too  great  indulgence  in  the  fine  arts  con- 
sumes part  of  the  time  that  ought  to  be  employed  on  the 
important  duties  of  life.  A  man  who  lives  above  his 
fortune  or  profits,  and  accustoms  his  children  to  luxury, 
abandons  them  to  poverty  when  he  dies.  Luxury  is  an 
enemy  to  population,  it  enhances  the  expense  of  living,  and 
confines  many  to  the  bachelor  state.  Luxury  is,  above  all, 
pernicious  in  a  commercial  state.  Luxury  has  been  the 
ruin  of  every  state  where  it  prevailed.  Great  opulence 
opens  a  wide  door  to  indolence,  sensuality,  corruption,  pros- 
titution and  perdition." 

Buffon  says:  "The  sole  glory  of  the  rich  man  is  to 
consume  and  destroy ;  and  his  grandeur  consists  in  lavish- 
ing in  one  day  upon  the  expense  of  his  table  what  would 
procure  subsistence  for  many  families.  He  abuses  equally 
animals  and  men,  a  great  part  of  whom  are  a  prey  to  fa- 
mine, and  pine  in  want  and  toil  to  satisfy  his  immoderate  de- 
sires. He  destroys  himself  by  excess  and  others  by  want." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  165 

k  A  Russian  writer  says:  "Commerce  excites  luxury,  cor- 
rupts manners.  Universal  dissipation  has  taken  the  lead, 
and  profligacy  of  manners  has  followed.  Great  landlords 
grind  their  people  to  supply  the  incessant  demands  of  lux- 
ury. The  miserable  peasant  groans  under  his  taxes." 

Montesquieu,  in  his  "Spirit  of  the  Laws,"  says:  "If 
Poland  had  no  foreign  trade  its  inhabitants  would  be  more 
happy.  The  grandees,  who  have  only  their  corn,  would 
give  it  to  their  peasants  for  subsistence.  As  their  too  ex- 
tensive estates  would  become  burdensome,  they  would 
therefore  divide  with  their  peasants.  Every  one  would  ob- 
tain skins,  or  sacks  of  wool  from  their  herds  or  flocks,  so 
that  they  would  no  longer  be  at  such  an  immense  cost  in 
providing  clothes.  The  great,  who  are  always  fond  of  lux- 
ury, not  being  able  to  find  it  in  their  own  country,  would 
encourage  the  labor  of  the  poor.  This  nation,  I  affirm, 
would  then  become  more  flourishing." 

Great  cities  are  great  evils,  and  are  created  by  commerce. 
They  are  places  of  suffering,  and  should  be  abolished.  A 
few  centuries  ago  they  were  thought  an  evil.  In  1672,  an 
edict  came  from  Louis  XIV,  that  asserted :  "  That  by  en- 
larging the  city,  the  air  would  be  rendered  unwholesome ; 
that  cleaning  the  streets  would  prove  a  great  additional 
labor;  that  adding  to  the  number  of  inhabitants  would 
raise  the  price  of  provisions,  of  labor,  and  of  manufactures  ; 
that  the  ground  would  be  covered  with  buildings  instead 
of  corn,  which  might  hazard  a  scarcity ;  that  the  country 
would  be  depopulated  by  the  desire  that  the  people  have  to 
resort  to  the  capital ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  difficulty  of  gov- 
erning such  numbers  would  be  an  encouragement  to  rob- 
bery and  murder." 

In  1602,  Queen  Elizabeth  prohibited  any  new  buildings 
within  three  miles  of  London, in  this  preamble:  "That  see- 


1 66  THE  LABORER; 

ing  the  great  and  manifold  inconveniences  and  mischiefs 
which  daily  grow,  and  are  likely  to  increase,  in  the  city  of 
London,  and  that  such  multitudes  can  hardly  be  governed, 
and  provided  with  food  and  other  necessaries  at  a  reason- 
able price,  without  adding  new  officers  and  enlarging  their 
authority.  Many  of  those  who  are  poor  must  live  by  beg- 
ging or  worse  means,  and  are  heaped  up  together — many 
children  and  servants  in  one  house  or  small  tenement." 

Lord  Kames,  in  his  "  Sketches  of  Man,"  says:  "  Mex- 
ico and  Peru  afforded  to  their  numerous  inhabitants  the  nec- 
essaries of  life  in  profusion.  Cotton  was  plentiful,  more 
than  sufficient  for  the  clothing.  Indian  wheat  was  univer- 
sal, and  was  cultivated  without  much  labor.  The  natural 
wants  of  the  inhabitants  were  thus  easily  supplied,  and  ar- 
tificial wants  had  made  no  progress.  The  Indians  have 
learned  from  their  conquerors  a  multitude  of  artificial  wants, 
variety  of  food,  and  rich  clothing. 

"The  Peruvian  constitution  seems  to  have  been  an  agra- 
rian law  of  the  strictest  kind.  To  the  sovereign  was  given 
a  large  portion  of  the  land  for  the  expenses  of  the  govern- 
ment ;  and  the  remainder  was  divided  among  his  subjects. 
Every  man  plowed  his  own  field,  and  then  assisted  his 
neighbor.  Individuals  were  taught  to  do  every  thing  for 
themselves.  Every  one  knew  how  to  plow  and  manure  his 
land.  Every  one  was  a  carpenter,  mason,  shoemaker,  and 
weaver ;  and  they  were  obliged  to  assist  each  other  in  sow- 
ing, reaping,  and  building  without  any  reward." 

*  "  None  were  idle  or  fatigued  with  labor ;  the  food  was 
wholesome,  plentiful,  and  equal  to  all;  every  one  was  con- 
veniently lodged  and  well  clothed ;  the  aged,  sick,  widows, 
and  orphans,  were  assisted  in  a  manner  unknown  in  any 
other  part  of  the  world ;    every  one  married  from  choice 

*  Description  of  the  Paraguay  Indians,  by  Abbe  Raynal,  in  his  History. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  167 

and  not  from  interest,  and  children  were  considered  a  bless- 
ing, and  could  never  be  burdensome.  Debauchery,  the 
necessary  consequence  of  idleness,  which  equally  corrupts 
the  opulent  and  the  poor,  never  tended  to  abridge  the  term 
of  human  life;  nothing  served  to  excite  artificial  passions, 
or  contradicted  those  that  were  regulated  by  nature  and  rea- 
son ;  the  people  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  trade,  and  were 
not  exposed  to  the  contagion  of  vice  and  luxury ;  plentiful 
magazines,  and  a  friendly  intercourse  between  nations  united 
in  the  bonds  of  the  same  religion,  were  a  security  against 
any  scarcity  that  might  happen  from  the  inclemency  of  the 
seasons;  public  justice  had  never  been  reduced  to  the  ne- 
cessity of  condemning  a  single  malefactor  to  death,  to  igno- 
my,  or  to  any  punishment  of  long  duration;  the  very  names 
of  a  tax  or  lawsuit,  those  two  terrible  scourges  which  every 
where  else  afflict  mankind,  were  unknown." 

Civilization  can  give  us  no  such  a  picture  as  this.  Bolts 
and  locks,  constables  and  watchmen,  jails  and  prisons  are 
to  be  seen  every-where.  The  causes  of  which  are,  men 
are  taken  from  useful  pursuits  to  manage  the  money  affairs, 
to  engage  in  commercial  pursuits,  and  to  govern  the  nation. 
These  are  so  numerous,  men  are  poor.  They  cause  crime 
and  celibacy.  There  are  two  classes  in  large  cities  that  de- 
serve our  pity,  servant  women  and  milliners.  They  work 
from  morn  to  night  on  gay  dresses  covered  with  beads,  rib- 
bons, and  spangles,  which  makes  the  wearer  look  like  a 
harlequin,  and  who  is  often  an  idle  woman.  This  gay  robe 
often  sweeps  the  streets,  as  trains  are  in  fashion  in  1868. 
The  poor  girls  at  night  can  work  on  their  own  scanty  dresses 
to  the  injury  of  their  eye-sight.  Strangers  who  come  to  a 
very  large  city  observe  some  streets  are  occupied  by  infe- 
rior merchants,  whose  families  live  up  stairs.  From  the 
front  part  runs  a  long  narrow  building,  which  contains  the 


1 68  THE  LABORER; 

cooking,  dining,  and  washing-room  ;  all  this  is  sacred  to  the 
maid  of  all  work;  over  this  is  her  sleeping  cell.  In  this 
place  she  cooks,  scrubs  and  washes  thirteen  hours  in  the 
day.  She  has  brick  walls  around  her  and  can  see  nothing. 
The  alley  emits  vile  smells  which  can  not  be  cured.  She 
is  a  stranger  to  the  pleasures  of  home  or  friends. 

This  woman  is  not  as  happy  as  a  monk.  Abbe  Raynal 
tells  us  a  beaver  is  happier  than  a  monk.  This  writer  tells 
how  these  animals  saw  down  a  tree  with  their  teeth,  and  it 
falls  across  the  stream,  the  branches  are  gnawed  off,  and 
pieces  of  trees  are  floated  down.  A  solid  dam  is  made.  It 
has  openings  to  let  off  the  surplus  water.  The  beaver  has 
his  house  on  the  top  of  the  dam ;  it  is  made  of  mud  and 
sticks ;  it  is  plastered  inside  very  smooth,  the  floor  is  kept 
very  clean,  and  covered  with  hay.  A  man  can  repose  very 
comfortably  in  their  huts.  They  build  store  houses  for 
food,  and  it  is  divided  without  contest. 

"  A  male  and  female  get  acquainted  when  laboring  on  the 
public  works,  and  agree  to  pass  the  winter  together ;  for  this 
they  lay  up  food.  The  happy  couple  retire  to  their  hut  in 
September.  The  winter  gives  leisure  for  amorous  pursuits. 
The  couple  never  leave  each  other.  Their  time  is  conse- 
crated to  love.  On  sunshiny  days  the  loving  pair  walk  on 
the  banks  of  the  river,  eat  some  fresh  bark,  and  breathe 
earth's  exhalations.  Toward  the  end  of  winter  the  female 
has  those  endearing  pledges  of  this  universal  passion  of  na- 
ture. The  father  leaves  his  cell  to  his  family,  as  it  is  spring. 
The  mother  goes  out  and  feeds  her  charge  on  fish  and  bark." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GOLD,    SILVER,    AND    PAPER    MONEY. 

MONEY  HAS  ITS  ORIGIN  IN  THE  LOVE  OF  ORNAMENT — A  MEANS  or  KEEPING 
THE  PEOPLE  POOR — WHAT  MONEY  COSTS  SOCIETY — THE  CAUSES  OF  METAL 
MONEY— THE  HISTORY  OF  PAPER  MONEY— OPINIONS  OF  ANDREW  JACKSON. 

"  Gold  'tis  trash,  it  is  the  worldling's  god." — POLLOK. 

JOME  village  mechanics  living  in  Europe  were 
watching  some  street  occurrence,  which  caused  the 
magistrate  to  come  to  them  and  tell  them  to  go 
to  work.  This  was  very  thoughtful  in  the  magistrate.  He 
no  doubt  thought  much  was  depending  on  their  labors,  and 
he  was  right.  It  probably  never  occurred  to  the  mind  of 
the  magistrate,  that  if  he  and  many  others  would  go  to  work 
at  something  of  utility  there  would  be  such  an  abundance  in 
the  world  that  disputes  would  never  occur  at  all.  Suppose 
these  laborers  should  go  along  the  banks  of  a  stream  and 
seek  for  shells  and  convert  them  into  rings  and  ornaments, 
men  would  not  be  any  richer.  If  the  magistrate  should  say 
to  these  men,  poverty  will  overtake  you,  it  would  be  the 
truth.  If  these  persons  should  go  and  seek  for  gold,  bitter 
poverty  would  be  felt  somewhere. 

Adam  Smith,  in  his  "Wealth  of  Nations,''  says: 
"Among  civilized  nations  many  do  not  labor  at  all,  many 
of  whom  consume  the  produce  of  ten  times,  frequently  a 
hundred  times,  more  than  those  who  work."  Nature 
never  designed  this.  As  labor  gives  aching  bones  and  limbs, 


170  THE  LABORER; 

men  are  continually  trying  to  throw  the  burden  of  their 
kee-ping  on  those  who  labor.  A  more  prolific  source  of  liv- 
ing without  laboring,  consuming  without  producing,  can  not 
be  found  than  in  money,  which  is  truly  an  invention  to  get 
others'  wealth  and  labor  ;  which  takes  from  him  who  labors 
the  fruits  of  that  labor,  and  gives  it  to  him  who  will  not 
labor. 

Money  had  its  origin  in  a  period  of  the  world  when  the 
condition  of  mankind  was  equal,  when  they  had  nothing 
to  exchange.  It  is  probable  that  we  are  indebted  to  the 
love  of  ornament  for  money.  It  is  said  that  John  Lander, 
the  African  traveler,  had  with  him  the  same  medals  of  brass 
that  were  used  by  the  British  Government  to  get  the  Amer- 
ican Indians  to  fight  against  the  American  people.  To 
get  these  medals  the  Indians  will  sell  the  lands  of  his  an- 
cestors ;  the  African  will  set  fire  to  the  villages  of  neigh- 
boring tribes,  for  the  purpose  of  selling  the  fleeing  inhabi- 
tants into  slavery,  so  as  to  get  these  ornaments.  What  a 
fearful  price  do  the  savages  pay  for  these  mean  ornaments ! 
With  what  pride  do  they  wear  them !  Ships  go  to  Africa 
with  beads  and  copper  coins,  which  are  exchanged  for  gold 
dust,  and  ivory.  No  doubt  these  beads  and  coins  could  be 
exchanged  for  wheat  if  the  natives  had  it.  Some  of  the 
Chinese  hang  their  money  around  their  necks  as  an  or- 
nament. 

When  the  poor  inhabitants  of  Cuba  and  St.  Domingo, 
were  first  visited  by  the  Spaniards,  they  had  little  pieces  of 
gold  in  their  hair  and  other  parts  of  their  dress  as  orna- 
ments. They  were  astonished  at  the  rage  of  the  Spaniards 
to  obtain  these,  and  to  give  their  food  and  clothing  for  that 
which  was  of  no  value  to  them,  nor  of  any  great  value  to 
the  Spaniards. 

The  name  money  comes  from  the  Latin  word  monetay 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  171 

a  piece  of  stamped  metal.  A  slave,  to  whom  a  sheep  was 
due,  could  he  be  persuaded  to  receive  a  coin  instead  of  it, 
,vould  have  no  motive  to  receive  it  except  for  ornament. 

Those  who  rule  a  country  always  contrive  to  own  the 
copper,  silver,  and  gold  mines.  William  the  Norman  gave 
these  to  his  favorites,  and  forbid  all  others  to  seek  for  silver 
or  gold.  The  Duke  of  Cornwall  owned  the  copper  mines. 
He  could  make  copper  money  and  give  it  for  what  he  liked. 
Wages  were  once  a  penny  a  day.  If  a  penny  was  coined  in 
five  minutes,  it  got  a  day's  labor  out  of  the  slave.  Money 
at  first  was  rude  bars,  till  human  ingenuity  found  out  how 
to  stamp  on  them  the  monarch's  image. 

William  I  ordered  that  twelve  ounces  of  silver  should  be 
coined  into  twenty  parts,  each  part  to  be  called  a  shilling. 
Each  succeeding  monarch  made  it  to  weigh  less  at  every 
coinage,  a  grain  or  more  at  a  time.  In  the  time  of  Philip 
and  Mary,  the  twenty  shillings  only  weighed  five  ounces. 
If  wheat  was  a  shilling  a  bushel  in  the  time  of  William,  his 
pound  of  silver  got  twenty  bushels  of  wheat.  If  the  pound 
of  silver  was  made  into  twenty-one  shillings,  the  king  had 
twenty-one  bushels  of  wheat. 

Charles  I  wanted  money.  He  said  :  "  Let  the  servants  of 
the  mint  mix  three  penniesworth  of  silver,  with  as  much 
alloy  as  will  make  a  coin  of  the  size  of  a  shilling."  He 
was  told  the  servants  of  the  mint  would  not  do  it.  "Let 
them  be  sent  to  prison,"  said  the  angry  monarch.  The 
order  was  not  obeyed.  It  would  have  been  in  the  time  of 
Henry  VIII.  European  coins  are  shamefully  alloyed. 

If  the  State  treasurer  were  to  get   in  all  his  taxes,  and 
get  a  decree  passed  that  half  a  dollar  should  be  of  the  value' 
of  a  dollar,  he  would  pay  twice  as  many  debts,  so  would  all 
others.     When  the  debts  were  paid,  if  another  decree  were 
to  bring  back  again  the  money  to  its  first  value  it  would  be 


172  THE  LABORER; 

a  fraud.  The  king  of  France  changed  the  livre,  a  coin  that 
was  divided  into  twenty-eight  parts,  to  the  value  of  forty 
parts.  When  the  king  had  paid  his  debts,  he  changed  the 
money  back  again  to  the  first  value. 

The  gold  and  silver  in  the  English  mines  was  exhausted 
about  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  England  has  now  obtained 
enormous  supplies  of  gold  from  the  mines  of  South  Amer- 
ica. Many  a  bagful  of  gold-dust  has  gone  into  the  Mint, 
to  be  stamped  into  money,  and  then  exchanged  for  the  pro- 
ducts of  labor.  This  exchanging  has  been  going  on  for 
generations,  and  it  makes  the  people  poorer.  Such  have 
been  the  accumulations  of  gold  and  silver  in  England,  that 
twenty  times  as  much  is  given  for  wages,  as  was  five  cen- 
turies ago.  This  does  not  improve  the  condition  of  the 
poor  toiler.  A  bushel  of  wheat  for  ages  has  been  the  stan- 
dard for  a  day's  labor  of  a  skilled  laborer.  If  wages  are  a 
penny  a  day,  the  bushel  of  wheat  is  worth  one  penny.  If 
a  day's  labor  is  five  shillings,  then  is  the  bushel  Qf  wheat 
worth  five  shillings.  Mechanics  fall  into  a  fata};  error  tc 
think  the  higher  their  pay,  the  better  is  their  conation. 

Suppose  the    merchants  of  this  country  obtairi;ed    gold;' 
amounting  to  $100,000,000,  and  spent  it,  the  inhabitants/ 
would  be  that  much  poorer,  with  much  less  of  the|comforts: 
of  life.      It  is  something  we  can  not  eat  or  wear.  \  Simple- 
tons will  give  their  necessaries  for  superfluities.    Stewart,  ofe- 
New  York,  one  of  the  richest  men  there,  has  no  gold  on 
his  person,  proving  that  it  is  of  no  utility,  except  to  sur- 
geons and  dentists.      The  papers  tell  us  that  during  twenty 
years  the   California  mines  have  yielded  $1,200,000,000. 
This  sum  would  have  given   1,200,000  families  a  happy 
home,  worth  $1,000.     A  cottage  worth  $500  with  barns 
and  fences  to  that  amount  on  land,  would  make  many  su- 
premely happy.      The  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  tells  us 


This  boy,  because  he  paid  for  the  broom,  is  made  a  clerk,  which  has  improved 
his  looks,  at  the  expense  of  some  one  else's  comfort ;  to  prove  this  his  patron  ob- 
tains a  sum  of  money  on  a  town-lot,  or  piece  of  wild  land,  the  buyer  of  which  has 
to  practice  unjust,  painful  self-denial  to  obtain  it.  The  Being  who  rules  on  high 
never  designed  that  a  part  of  his  children  should  keep  others  in  unproductive  toil. 
In  Cincinnati,  there  are  4,000  clerks  and  book-keepers ;  these  working  on  level, 
fertile  land,  aided  by  machinery,  can  produce  a  sufficiency  of  food  to  maintain  its 
300,000  inhabitants.  If  its  1,000  persons  as  police,  sweepers  of  the  streets,  rulers 
of  .he  city,  etc.,  were  to  work  on  M.  Greenwood's  loom,  they  could  clothe  the  city. 

4 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  173 

that  when  the  Pacific  Railroad  is  complete,  the  product  of 
the  gold  mines  will  be  annually  $150,000,000.  Were 
those  who  seek  for  gold  to  work  at  something  else,  it  would 
shorten  the  hours  of  labor  more  than  a  thirteenth.  This 
calculation  supposes  the  diggers  are  laborers  earning  $500  in 
a  year,  which  will  give  us  300,000  laborers,  who  can  spin 
and  weave,  yearly,  1,350,000,000  yards  of  cloth,  or  find 
one-third  of  the  nation  in  food.  Those  who  clothe  and 
feed  the  gold  seekers — do  not  have  much  of  the  gold. 

Gold  has  become  so  abundant  in  England  that  it  is  put 
to  strange  uses.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  has  two  tons 
of  silver-ware.  The  Queen  of  England  has  changes  of 
gold-ware,  sufficient  to  dine  two  hundred  and  forty  persons. 
The  Earl  of  Carlisle  has  the  dome  of  his  mansion  covered 
with  gold.  The  Duke  of  Devonshire  has  one  of  his  gate- 
ways covered  with  gold.  Another  nobleman  has  a  gold 
staircase.  It  is  a  frequent  occurrence  for  an  idle  American 
woman  to  wear  jewelry  worth  $100,000.  Ye  statesmen 
and  philosophers,  tell  us,  who  are  the  humble  ones,  how 
much  of  human  happiness  is  sacrificed  to  promote  all  this 
senseless  vanity  ? 

Gold  and  silver  money  became  so  abundant,  men  buried 
it  in  the  earth.  The  wealth  of  the  Jews  was  in  such  things 
as  they  could  carry  away ;  they  were  money-lenders  and 
exchangers.  They  were  often  plundered,  persecuted,  and 
had  to  find  a  refuge  in  other  countries,  and  then  purchase 
the  privilege  to  return.  They  have  paid  at  times  one-third . 
of  the  king's  revenue  for  protection.  The  Jews  are  the 
same  now  as  in  the  time  of  Moses — they  had  tables  at  the 
door  of  the  temple,  and  sold  or  exchanged  half-shekels  as 
an  offering  to  the  Lord.  Six  centuries  ago  they  might  be 
seen  in  the  commercial  marts  of  Europe,  sitting  on  benches, 
exchanging  money  for  the  Catholic  pilgrims.  The  benches 
16 


J74  THE  LABOREB  ; 

on  which  they  sat  were  called  banco,  the  Italian  name  for  a 

bench,  from  which  comes  the  name  of  bank. 

The  increase  of  population  made  the  hiding  of  money 

insecure.  This  led  to  the  formation  of  banks  of  deposit  by 
the  Lombards  and  Jews.  The  crusades  and  religious  pil- 
grimages led  to  the  custom  of  loaning  money  to  these  bank- 
ers. These  Jewish  bankers  often  loaned  money  at  twelve 
and  twenty  per  cent ;  for  this  they  may  have  thought  they 

had  divine  permission.  In  the  book  of  Deuteronomy  it  is 
written,  "Of  thy  brother  thou  shalt  not  take  usury,  of  the 
stranger  thou  shalt  take  usury." 

The  Bank  of  Venice  was  the  first  in  Europe,  and  was 
established  in  1171.  The  republic  was  pressed  for  money 
and  it  levied  a  forced  contribution  from  the  richest  citizens, 
giving  them  in  return  a  perpetual  annuity  of  four  per  cent. 
An  office  was  established  for  the  payment  of  the  interest.  It 
was  punctually  paid,  and  became  the  Bank  of  Venice.  At 
the  office  claims  were  registered,  and  the  right  to  receive 
interest,  which  was  transferable  by  purchase  or  death.  It 
was  a  bank  of  deposit,  begun  without  capital.  The  inva- 
sion of  the  French  in  1797  rumed  the  bank.  The  repub- 
lic was  its  security.  In  1401,  the  Bank  of  Barcelona  was 
established.  In  1407,  the  Bank  of  Genoa  was  started. 

The  Bank  of  Amsterdam  was  started  in  1609  ;  the  ma- 
gistrates, by  authority  of  the  states,  were  declared  perpetual 
cashiers  to  the  inhabitants.  All  merchants  were  by  law 
obliged  to  open  an  account  with  the  bank,  for  which  they 
paid  a  fee  to  the  city.  This  bank  was  to  assist  the  mer- 
chants in  their  commercial  dealings.  Creditors  of  mer- 
chants were  to  receive  their  dues  at  the  bank,  and  the  bills 
and  receipts  were  recorded  there.  For  deposits  of  silver  or 
gold  a  certificate  was  given  and  recorded.  In  1672,  the 
French  invaded  the  country,  and  the  merchants  went  for 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  175 

their  money,  and  it  was  there.  The  French  invaded  Hol- 
land in  1794;  the  merchants  went  to  the  bank  for  their 
money,  and  it  was  not  there.  This  compelled  the  authorities 
to  confess  they  had  loaned  the  deposits  to  Holland,  West 
Friesland,  and  the  East  India  Company;  the  claims  on  these 
were  given  to  those  who  had  the  certificates  of  the  bank  in 
their  possession. 

In  1640,  the  merchants  of  London  carried  their  money 
to  the  Mint  in  the  Tower.  Charles  I,  wanting  money,  took 
.£200,000.  This  destroyed  its  character  as  a  place  of  secu- 
rity and  deposit.  The  merchants  then  kept  their  money  at 
home,  and  were  robbed  by  their  apprentices  and  clerks. 
This  caused  the  merchants  to  take  their  money  to  the  gold- 
smiths, who  had  vaults.  The  goldsmiths  received  money 
on  trust,  and  allowed  interest  on  it.  The  receipt  passed 
from  hand  to  hand  as  bank  notes  do  now.  The  goldsmiths 
reloaned  this  money  to  the  king,  on  the  security  of  the 
taxes.  This  suggested  the  Bank  of  England,  in  1694. 

The  mayor  and  council  of  London,  with  some  of  the 
nobility,  invited  William  III  and  Mary,  his  queen,  to  come 
from  Holland  and  rule  them.  Mary  was  the  next  heir  to 
the  throne.  William  wanted  to  have  a  war  with  France. 
He  did  not  like  to  tax  the  people,  for  fear  he  might  be  ex- 
iled like  James  II,  or  lose  his  head,  as  did  Charles  I.  He 
got  a  charter  for  the  Bank  of  England  on  condition  it 
loaned  money  to  the  government.  The  first  loan  was  the 
sum  of  $6,000,000.  The  bank  was  to  receive  as  interest 
$500,000.  The  next  sum  borrowed  was  $10,000,000,  to 
pay  a  debt  to  the  East  India  Company.  The  interest  on 
this  was  $800,000.  Charles  II  took  out  of  the  treasury 
$3,500,000.  This  belonged  to  some  merchants  who  had 
it  in  the  treasury.  Charles's  unjust  appropriation  was  made 
a  small  part  of  the  national  debt.  The  people  have  paid 


176  THE  LABORER; 

this  amount  fifteen  times  over,  in  the  shape  of  interest.  A 
king  dare  not  ask  his  subjects  for  money  to  carry  on  a  war, 
and  yet,  for  pieces  of  paper  money,  they  will,  give  salaries 
to  his  officers  ,  food  and  clothing  to  his  soldiers.  Strange  in- 
fatuation !  These  sums,  when  put  together,  were  called 
uThe  Consolidated  Debt."  This  term  is  now  abbreviated 
to  "  Consols." 

In  seven  years  the  bank  had  loaned  $80,000,000,  a  small 
trifle.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a  source  of  misery ;  and  the 
germ  of  a  plague  that  has  ravaged  England  from  that  day 
to  this.  The  Bank  of  England  has  contributed  from  1694 
to  1815,  for  carrying  on  useless  and  desolating  wars,  the 
enormous  sum  of  $6,050,000,000.  This  borrowing  has 
made  the  people  of  England  pay  three  times  this  amount 
in  interest,  which  amounts  with  the  interest  and  principal 
to  $26,050,000,000.  Had  money  never  been  invented 
this  enormous  sum  would  never  have  been  got  out  of  the 
people.  There  are  50,000,000  of  acres  of  land  in  Great 
Britain,  were  they  to  be  sold  for  $100  an  acre,  and  this  ad- 
ded to  the  value  of  the  peoples*  dwellings,  it  would  equal 
only  half  of  this  amount.  The  funding  or  banking  system 
has  enabled  a  few  to  get  from  those  who  labor,  the  value 
of  all  of  England's  accumulated  labor,  excepting  the  silver 
and  gold.  This  calculation  supposes  the  familes  number 
6,000,000,  and  that  the  habitation  of  each  family  is  worth 

$1,000. 

The  reign  of  William  III  may  be  styled  the  most  unfor- 
tunate that  England  ever  saw;  during  its  pernicious  prog- 
ress were  sown  the  seeds  of  a  system  which  has  poisoned  the 
happiness  of  Englishmen,  and  reduced  them  from  a  state  of 
wealth  and  universal  comfort  and  ease  to  a  land  of  toiling 
slaves  and  spirit-broken  paupers;  who  are  lorded  over  by  a 
moneyed  and  landed  aristocracy, who  have  divided  the  gov- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  177 

ernment  between  them,  and  by  a  mixture  of  crime  and  er- 
ror, in  a  century  and  a  half,  have  induced  a  state  of  suffer- 
ing and  insecurity  that  bids  fair  to  destroy  the  safety  of  the 
people.  The  Bank  of  England  was  a  means  of  introducing 
the  folly  and  wickedness  of  mortgaging  the  future  happi- 
ness and  labor  of  posterity,  and  also  the  means  of  introduc- 
ing among  the  industrious  classes  pauperism,  crime,  and 
destitution;  while  the  wealth  of  the  country  is  drawn  into 
huge  masses  and  placed  in  the  grasp  of  Jews,  loan-mongers, 
gamblers  in  stocks,  and  every  conceivable  kind  of  swind- 
ling. It  was  the  means  of  changing  a  country  of  wealth  and 
happiness  into  a  land  of  discontented,  rebellious  paupers, 
kept  quiet  by  a  standing  army.  The  people  are  crushed  in 
to  the  earth  by  a  paper  money  aristocracy. 

The  sum  borrowed  to  carry  on  the  American  Revolu- 
tion was  $695,000,000 ;  this  has  been  paid  four  times  over 
in  interest.  The  whole  sum  is  $3, 500,000,000.  The 
English  wars  in  France  cost  $4,250,000,000,  from  1793  to 
1815.  This  sum  has  been  paid  twice  as  interest,  which 
makes  the  amount  to  be  $12,750,000,000.  All  this  was 
used  to  destroy  the  happiness  of  mankind  and  the  princi- 
ples of  liberty.  They  were  gigantic  efforts  of  the  privi- 
leged classes  to  prevent  the  amelioration  of  society,  and  to 
render  mankind  the  eternal  victims  of  oppression.  Those 
who  have  contributed  this  amount  went  hungry  and  naked. 
The  banking  system  was  the  reconquest  of  England  to  a 
worse  condition  of  slavery  than  that  of  the  feudal  ages. 

It  is  a  truth,  the  issues  of  paper,  gold,  and  silver  money 
raise  the  necessaries  of  life,  without  giving  the  worker  any 
more  abilities  to  produce.  The  first  loan  increases  the 
price  of  provisions,  and  the  second  loan  has  to  be  larger  to 
to  purchase  them.  The  paying  out  of  this  loan  makes  the 
necessaries  of  life  still  higher.  Loans  and  necessaries  go 


178  THE  LABORER; 

up  at  a  fearful  ratio,  increasing  the  wages  of  the  soldier  and 
producer.  This  expanding  of  the  currency  has  been  com- 
pared to  blowing  up  a  bubble  till  it  bursts,  then  comes  the 
misery.  Mankind  have  invented  the  funding  system,  or  the 
putting  away  paper  mon'ey  at  interest.  This  may  be  an 
evil,  it  is  probably  the  least  of  many  evils.  It  would  be  a  se- 
rious evil  to  get  ten  dollars  for  a  day's  labor  and  then  pay  i-t 
out  for  a  bushel  of  wheat.  It  would  require  large  bags  to 
contain  the  money.  It  is  a  serious  evil  to  create  a  large 
public  debt  with  an  expanded  currency,  and  pay  it  with  a 
contracted  one. 

In  1716,  John  Law  started  the  Bank  of  France,  "  To  put 
a  stop  to  usury,  to  facilitate  exchanges,  to  increase  manu- 
factures, and  to  enable  people  to  pay  more  easily  their 
taxes."  These  were  the  motives  this  man  put  forth  to  get 
the  labor  of  others.  In  1718,  the  king  bought  the  bank. 
To  save  this  bank  from  demand  for  specie,  the  king  forbid 
the  making  of  silver  plate,  the  payment  of  debts  in  specie, 
all  rents,  taxes,  and  customs  were  to  be  paid  in  paper 
money.  Fines,  imprisonment,  and  confiscation,  was  en- 
forced against  those  who  had  in  their  possession  more  than 
500  silver  livres. 

The  paper  fabric  fell.  Its  fall  ruined  thousands  and  re- 
duced them  to  beggary  and  want;  and  well  it  might,  by 
means  of  this  paper  money.  The  king  got  $420,000,000 
out  of  their  property  in  the  space  of  four  years.  To  absorb 
this  paper  money,  pensions  were  granted  to  run  twenty  and 
forty  years.  Those  who  had  these  annuities  became  pub- 
lic paupers,  and  lived  on  the  labor  of  others.  It  is  said 
plenty  of  money  makes  good  times.  Then  these  French 
men  ought  to  have  had  good  times.  They  gave  their  labor 
for  paper  and  got  state  paupers  to  keep.  This  money  was 
used  to  find  gold  in  Louisiana,  and  found  cities  there. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  179 

During  the  French  revolution  there  was  issued  paper 
money,  secured  by  the  property  of  the  church  and  exiled 
nobles.  When  the  English  and  French  engaged  in  war, 
the  English  counterfeited  a  great  many  bales  of  this  money, 
and  caused  it  to  be  circulated  in  France ;  the  government 
would  not  redeem  it. 

The  Bank  of  the  United  States  was  started  in  1781,  with 
a  capital  of  gold  and  silver  to  the  amount  of  $400,000.  It 
was  owing  to  this  bank  that  the  war  of  the  revolution  was 
carried  to  a  successful  issue.  The  government  got  Joans 
from  it  to  the  amount  of  $200,000,000.  This  bank  was 
re-chartered  in  1790  and  1816.  In  1836  it  was  vetoed  by 
Andrew  Jackson.  Its  capital,  by  its  last  charter,  was  the 
sum  of  $35,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  contri- 
buted $7,000,000. 

It  becomes  the  laborer  to  get  a  clear  idea  of  what  capital 
is.  It  is  not  the  duty  of  the  laborer  to  take  the  definition  - 
of  this  word  from  the  princely  merchant  or  banker,  who 
finds  it  to  his  interest  to  mislead  the  laborer,  and  get  his 
surplus  labor  away  from  him.  Capital,  was  in  olden  times,  an 
accumulation  of  food  and  clothes  to  consume  while  men 
built  their  houses  or  engaged  in  any  useful  pursuit.  This  is 
still  capital,  and  the  creator  of  it  can  share  it  with  others,  on 
condition  they  help  him.  If  there  was  no  paper  money  to 
get  a  railroad,  men  would  have  to  go  and  hunt  for  silver 
and  gold,  and  pay  the  builders  of  the  railroad  with  this 
when  coined.  If  these  miners  concluded  that  if  they  built 
the  road  with  their  own  hands,  it  would  be  the  same  as  to 
seek  gold.  The  labor  spent  on  the  road  is  equivalent  to 
labor  spent  on  the  silver  and  gold.  In  the  period  of  a  gold 
and  silver  currency  the  State  built  all  great  works  by  taxes, 
and  applied  the  profits  to  the  expenses  of  the  State.  Since 
the  art  of  printing  has  been  discovered,  and  causes  have  led. 


180  THE  LABORER; 

to  paper  money,  men  can  get  railroads,  canals,  bridges,  and 
turnpikes  for  nearly  nothing.  Men,  when  they  want  to 
own  these  things,  pledge  State  debts  and  mortgages,  to  the 
State  authorities,  who  give  the  beautiful  money  to  them  in 
bales.  This  money  costs  two  dollars  a  thousand,  and  it  is 
exchanged  for  the  mechanic's  skill,  and  the  farmer's  toil, 
at  the  ratio  of  two  to  a  thousand.  It  probably  takes  half 
a  day  to  print  this  $1,000,  and  it  buys  500  days'  labor  from 
the  railroad  workers,  who  will  get  250  days'  labor  from  the 
farmer  and  mechanic  for  it. 

Canals  were  not  used  in  England  before  the  year  1760. 
The  Duke  of  Bridgewater  conceived  the  idea  of  digging  a 
canal  to  carry  coals  into  the  city  of  Manchester.  He  got 
a  bank  note  plate ;  and  the  money,  when  printed,  read, 
"The  Duke  of  Bridgewater  will  pay  this  on  demand." 
Those  who  dug  the  canal  got  the  notes,  these  were  taken 
by  the  farmer  and  merchant,  who  believed  the  duke's  pro- 
mises, so  they  let  the  laborer  have  real  capital  food  and  rai- 
ment. When  the  canal  came  into  use  the  profits  redeemed 
the  notes,  and  the  duke  and  his  family  had  a  means  of  sup- 
port forever.  He  did  not  furnish  the  capital;  he  only  used 
cunning  to  get  others  to  build  this  canal.  The  opinion 
that  he  was  rich  built  the  canal. 

Before  this  time  coal  was  carried  in  wagons,  and  on  the 
backs  of  asses.  It  was  a  strange  sight  to  see  a  long  train  of 
these  little  creatures,  having  on  their  backs  a  bushel  of 
coal.  The  duke,  by  his  enterprise,  sent  hundreds  of  men 
and  boys  to  other  pursuits,  perhaps  to  create  luxuries.  It 
would  have  been  far  more  rational  had  the  authorities  of 
Manchester  issued  the  money  and  made  the  canal,  the  per- 
sons who  fed  and  clothed  the  laborers  would  have  got  some 
of  the  profits.  This  would  consign  to  the  workshop  and 
•  plow,  the  duke  and  his  family,  and  many  tax-gatherers. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  181 

In  this  manner  railroads,  bridges,  and  turnpikes  can  be 
obtained  by  the  State  becoming  like  a  pawnbroker,  to  re- 
ceive property  as  pledges,  and  to  issue  money  on  it.  In  this 
way  a  person  can  become  twice  as  rich  as  he  was  before. 
This  makes  the  condition  of  men  very  unequal — one  part 
toil  hard  to  minister  to  the  idleness  and  luxury  of  the  other. 
Suppose  five  persons  each  pledge  §20,000  worth  of  inter- 
est-bearing property,  with  the  comptroller;  they  receive  the 
sum  of  $100,000,  which  was  the  plan  in  1860,  now  it  is 
to  pledge  government  securities,  which  bear  interest  while 
in*  pledge.  If  one  of  the  persons  who  has  received  the 
$20,000  were  to  build  a  bridge  with  the  money,  his  family 
would  have  a  means  of  support  forever.  The  same  with  a 
turnpike  or  a  railroad. 

It  is  the  duty  of  society  to  own  these,  and  get  their  reve- 
nues. If  society  can  get  a  revenue  from  these  sources, 
it  will  send  the  tax-gatherer  to  more  useful  work,  and  it  will 
do  the  same  to  those  who  live  on  these  profits.  The 
United  States  banks  have  carried  thousands  from  affluence 
to  poverty.  Many  a  person  has  got  his  father's  patrimony, 
and  then  pledged  it  to  some  bank  ;  the  speculation  not  prov- 
ing successful,  the  estate  was  lost.  The  natural  employ- 
ment of  man  is  to  cultivate  the  earth — >banks  allure  him 
from  it. 

Hon.  S.  P.  Chase,  when  governor  of  Ohio,  in  his  message, 
said  :  "  No  system  of  currency  can  insure  complete  protec- 
tion against  speculation,  debt,  and  revulsion.  Credit  cur- 
rency in  the  United  States  is  supplied  by  banks  in  the  form 
of  notes  circulating  as  money.  The  number  of  banks,  in 
1858,  exceeded  1,400;  their  circulation  is  $214,778,822; 
deposits,  $230,358,352;  capital,  $370,686  ;  discounts,  $684- 
456,887;  and  specie,  $60,000,000.  It  needs  but  a  glance 
at  this  statement  to  perceive  that  a  currency  so  expanded 
17 


1 82  THE  LABORER; 

must  greatly  stimulate  hazardous  speculation,  and  tend  to 
financial  disorder.  The  credit  currency  must  become,  in 
part  or  all  together,  incontrovertible  into  coin." 

The  capital  of  these  banks  is  in  the  hands  of  the  comp- 
troller, and  is  earning  six  per  cent,  interest ;  add  this  interest 
to  the  interest  the  discounts  earn,  and  add  $5,000,000  to 
the  two  interests,  and  you  have  $40,000,000,  the  probable 
annual  cost  of  the  paper  money  of  this  land.  The  first 
sum  is  what  the  banks  gain  by  their  money  getting  des- 
troyed, burnt,  and  wrecked.  It  is  said  a  Lowell  factory  girl 
can  make  1,000  yards  of  cotton  cloth  in  a  week;  hence, if 
the  bankers,  their  families,  and  dependents  were  to  become 
workers,  they  could  make  for  this  people  4,000,000,000 
yards  of  cotton  cloth. 

Said  Helvetius  to  Frederick  the  Great,  in  alluding  to  some 
petitions  for  monopolies :  "Sire,  you  need  not  trouble  your- 
self to  read  them  through  ;  they  all  speak  the  same  language. 
We  beseech  your  Majesty  to  grant  us  leave  to  rob  your 
people  of  such  a  sum  ;  in  consideration  of  which,  we  engage 
to  pay  you  a  share  of  the  pillage." 

Professor  Vethake  in  his  book  on  Political  Economy, 
when  speaking  of  bank  expansions  and  contractions,  says : 
"Profits,  too,  made  in  this  manner  can  not  be  classed  with 
those  which  result  from  ordinary  gaming.  They  are  pre- 
cisely of  the  same  nature  with  the  winnings  of  the  gambler, 
who  uses  false  dice,  or  marked  cards,  unknown  to  his  vic- 
tim •,  and  the  act  of  obtaining  them  is  deserving  of  no  milder 
epithet  than  that  of  swindling  or  robbery" 

In  1831,  Mr  Stephen  Simpson,  Cashier  of  the  United 
States  Bank,  published  the  "Working-Man's  Manual," 
in  which  the  evils  of  banking  are  well  portrayed.  Page  48 
says:  "It  is  a  singular  infatuation,  prevailing  among  Polit- 
ical Economists,  that  the  scarcity  of  food  that  exists  among 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  183 

the  laboring  people  is  attributable  to  the  excess  of  popu- 
lation, while  the  palpable  fact  was  staring  them  in  the  face, 
that  the  excess  of  the  rich  demonstrated  the  falsity  of  .the 
hypothesis. 

"  The  stinted  measure  of  the  wages  of  labor  may  be  just- 
ly termed  the  evil  principle  of  the  age.  If  we  substitute 
capital,  banks,  and  monopolies,  for  the  barons,  lords,  and 
bishops  of  the  feudal  time,  we  shall  realize  a  juncture  so 
precisely  similar,  as  to  carry  out  in  full  an  illustration  of  the 
abuses  under  which  the  sons  of  labor  now  suffer  oppression 
and  injustice.  But  the  law.s  have  made  it  a  just  and  meri- 
torious act,  that  capitalists  shall  combine  to  strip  the  man 
of  labor  of  his  earnings,  and  reduce  him  to  a  dry  crust  and 
a  gourd  of  water.  Thus  does  power  invert  justice,  and 
derange  the  order  of  nature.  He  who  sows,  shall  reap ;  he 
who  builds,  shall  inhabit ;  he  who  produces,  shall  possess ! 
This  is  the  dictate  of  nature,  justice,  reason,  instinct  and 
common  sense.  This  instinct  is  crushed  by  the  power  of 
law  and  capital.  Why  should  the  working  classes  be 
stripped  of  the  fruits  of  their  labor  ?  Simply  because  they 
are  defenceless,  and  custom  has,  from  time  immemorial, 
classed  them  with  slaves  and  servants." 

In  Spark's  u  Life  of  Washington,"  is  a  letter  to  Thos. 
Stone,  in  which  the  General  says :  "  I  do  not  scruple  to  de- 
clare that,  if  I  had  a  voice  in  your  legislature,  it  would 
have  been  given  decidedly  against  a  paper  emission.  The 
wisdom  of  man,  in  my  humble  opinion,  can  not  devise  a 
plan  by  which  the  credit  of  paper  money  would  be  long 
supported ;  consequently  depreciation  keeps  pace  with  the 
quantity  of  the  emission,  and  articles  for  which  it  is  ex- 
changed rise  in  a  greater  ratio  than  the  sinking  value  of  the 
money.  An  evil  equally  great  is  the  door  it  immediately 
opens  for  speculation,  by  which  the  least  designing,  and, 


184  THE  LABORER; 

perhaps,  most  valuable  part  of  community  are  preyed  upon 
by  the  more  knowing  and  crafty  speculators." 

John  Q.  Adams  says:  "As  to  bankers,  there  is  but  little 
difference  between  them  and  the  counterfeiter.  If  I  should 
give  any  preference,  the  counterfeiter  is  the  best,  for  neither 
of  them  ever  expected  nor  intended  to  pay  their  notes. 
The  banker,  more  bold  and  daring,  robs  the  people  under 
cover  and  pretense  of  the  law ;  the  counterfeiter,  more  dif- 
fident and  unassuming,  robs  the  people  without  law." 

Daniel  Webster,  in  1812,  in  the  U.  S.  Senate,  said: 
u  Of  all  the  contrivances  for  cheating  the  laboring  classes 
of  mankind,  none  is  so  effectual  as  that  which  deludes  with 
paper  money !  It  is  the  most  perfect  expedient  ever  in- 
vented for  fertilizing  the  rich  man's  field  by  the  sweat  of 
the  poor  man's  brow." 

Thomas  Jefferson,  in  a  letter  to  J.  Taylor,  said:  "The 
system  of  banking  we  have  both  equally  and  ever  repro- 
bated. I  contemplate  it  as  a  blot  left  in  our  institutions, 
which,  if  not  corrected,  will  end  in  their  destruction,  which 
is  already  hit  by  gamblers  in  corruption,  and  is  sweeping 
away  in  its  progress  the  fortunes  and  morals  of  our  citizens. 
And  I  sincerely  believe  with  you,  that  bank  establishments 
are  more  dangerous  than  standing  armies." 

Andrew  Jackson,  in  a  letter  to  M.  Dawson,  in  1840, 
said :  "A  national  paper  currency  is  a  great  curse  to  any 
people,  and  a  curse  to  the  laborer  of  any  country,  for  its  de- 
preciation falls  on  the  working  classes." 

Wm.  H.  Harrison,  in  a  speech  made  at  Dayton,  said :  "  I 
am  not  a  bank  man ;  I  was  once,  and  they  cheated  me  out 
of  every  dollar  I  had  placed  in  their  hands." 

Wm.  Pitt  said:  "Let  the  Americans  adopt  their  funding 
System,  and  go  on  with  their  banking  institutions,  and  their 
boasted  independence  will  be  a  mere  phantom." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  185 

It  may  seem  strange  to  many  why  American  liberty  is 
imaginary;  it  is  so,  unless  it  means  every  man  to  get  all  he 
can  of  his  neighbor's  labor,  and  keep  it.  It  is  self-evident 
that  the  man  who  is  possessed  of  abundant  riches  has  not 
earned  them,  and  the  causes  that  made  him  rich  will  make 
riches  universal,  if  men  will  turn  the  money  into  other 
channels.  We  say  of  a  slave  he  is  not  a  freeman,  because 
others  get  his  toil,  and  leave  him  a  very  small  share. 

What  shall  we  say  of  a  community  that  gives  a  few  the 
privilege  of  issuing  millions  of  money,  which  gets  the  labor 
of  others  when  issued,  and  the  people  pay  every  year  for 
its  use  §40,000,000  ?  This  is  a  large  sum  and  would  find 
80,000  homes  at  a  cost  of  $500  each.  This  was  brought 
about  in  this  manner.  Soon  after  the  Revolution,  the  State 
Legislatures  gave  bank  charters  to  a  favored  few  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  many.  The  banks  were  required  by  law  to 
have  a  third  of  their  issues  in  gold.  Every  ten  years  there 
have  been  "runs"  on  the  bank.  When  the  gold  was  gone 
then  came  suspension,  which  means  merchants  and  others 
who  owe  the  banks  must  come  and  pay.  The  merchant 
sells  his  soap,  sugar,  hats,  shoes,  and  clothes  for  the  sus- 
pended money,  which  he  is  glad  to  get.  The  people  are 
glad  to  get  these  things.  They  are  what  they  work  for.  So- 
ciety has  now  no  money,  which  brings  misery  to  the  daily 
laborer,  to  those  who  are  in  debt,  or  have  taxes  to  pay. 

The  Guernsey  Times  says  :  "  In  Muskingum  the  sheriff, 
in  1842,  sold  at  auction  a  wagon  for  $5.50;  ten  hogs  at 
six  and  a  quarter  cents  each  ;  two  horses  (said  to  be  worth 
sixty  dollars  each)  for  four  dollars ;  two  cows  for  one  dol- 
lar each  ;  and  a  barrel  of  sugar  for  $1.50.  In  Pike  County, 
Missouri,  the  sheriff  sold  three  horses  for  §1.50  each;  five 
cows,  two  steers,  and  a  calf  for  $3.25;  twenty  sheep  for 
$2.70  5  twenty-four  hogs  for  twenty-five  cents  ;  eight  hogs- 


1 86  THE  LABORER; 

y 

heads  of  tobacco  for  $5.00  ;  three  stacks  of  hay  for  seventy- 
five  cents."  Henry  Clay  tells  us,  in  1837  the  people  lost 
in  four  years  by  bank  failures  and  depreciation  of  property 
§782,000,000,  or  one-sixth  of  the  property  of  the  Union. 
The  losses  of  the  country,  in  1858,  by  bank  failures  was 
nearly  the  same.  By  the  periodical  revulsions  we  have  had 
for  ninety  years,  or  the  losses  or  changes  that  have  occurred, 
one  part  of  the  community  has  lost  $2,000,000,000.  To 
make  this  subject  plainer,  we  will  suppose  a  person  has  prop- 
erty to  the  amount  of  $1,000,  and  he  owes  $100;  when 
his  property  is  sold  at  auction,  and  the  property  sells  for 
$100,  it  involves  a  great  loss.  The  person  who  purchased 
the  property,  may  have  earned  his  money  by  100  days'  labor; 
the  other  has  losjt  what  may  have  cost  him  a  1,000  days' 
labor.  The  human  mind  can  not  tell  or  describe  how  this 
land  has  been  blighted  by  banks  of  discount,  which  tempt 
men  to  run  in  debt.  To  the  bankers,  for  encouraging  these 
treacherous  institutions,  the  people  will  have  paid  in  ninety 
years  $1,000,000,000. 

Suppose  a  laborer  earns  in  one  year  $500,  and  he  saves 
half  of  it  for  sickness  and  age,  in  two  years  he  has  saved 
$500 ;  this  will  keep  him  two  years.  If  by  an  inundation  of 
paper  money  the  commodities  of  life  become  twice  as  high, 
he  has  only  what  will  keep  him  one  year.  This  man  has 
labored  a  day,  and  he  ought  to  exchange  it  so  as  to  get  a 
day's  labor  from  another  laborer.  To  prevent  this  is  an  in- 
jury. The  issues  of  the  late  war  have  affected  those  who 
live  by  incomes.  The  money  received  from  interest  has 
not  purchased  half  as  much  as  before.  The  plan  of  many 
of  the  Democrats  is  to  issue  more  paper  money,  to  pay  the 
national  debt.  This  will  enable  a  person  to  pay  his  debts 
with  half  the  labor.  A  person  sells  two  barrels  of  flour  for 
ten  dollars,  and  lends  the  money,  when  he  gets  his  money, 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  187 

back  again  it  will  only  purchase  one  barrel  of  flour.  We 
can  judge  a  person  if  he  is  rich  by  the  position  he  assumes. 
If  a  man  has  plenty  of  money  at  interest,  he  will  want  paper 
and  gold  money  alike  in  value,  so  that  he  can  purchase 
much  with  the  interest.  If  a  person  is  in  debt  he  will  favor 
a  flood  of  paper  money  so  that  he  can  pay  his  debts  easily 
At  the  present  time  (1868),  the  currency  is  all  paper,  and  it 
is  to  be  hoped  paper  money  will  never  again  be  founded  on 
gold.  The  past  shows  how  dangerous  is  a  currency  based 
on  gold,  it  rises  and  falls,  causing  the  fortunes  and  happi- 
ness of  men  be  very  uncertain. 

What  better  money  can  we  make  than  by  pledging  houses 
and  lands  to  the  authorities.  It  can  be  well  secured  and  save 
runs  on  the  banks,  and  then  we  will  have  a  uniform  cur- 
rency. In  Franklin's  boyhood  books  and  papers  were  not 
plentiful.  A  favorite  way  to  obtain  knowlege  was  by  de- 
bate. Franklin  started  this  question :  u  Is  the  emission  of 
paper  money  safe?"  In  1729,  he  wrote  an  essay  on  paper 
money.  The  State  of  Pennsylvania  acted  on  his  thoughts; 
and  issued  ,£15,000,  then  ,£30,000.  In  1736,  the  assem- 
bly issued  <£8oo,ooo,  or  $4,000,000.  The  money  was 
loaned  to  the  borrowers  from  a  loan  office. 

Five  persons  were  made  trustees  of  the  loan  office,  under 
whose  care  and  direction  the  bills  or  notes  were  printed ; 
they  were  of  various  denominations,  from  twenty  shillings 
to  one  shilling ;  this  created  no  necessity  for  much  silver 
money.  The  trustees  took  an  oath,  and  gave  security  for 
the  due  and  faithful  execution  of  their  office;  they  were  to 
lend  out  the  bills  on  real  security  for  double  that  amount. 
The  borrowers  were  to  pay  the  sum  in  sixteen  years,  one 
sixteenth  was  to  be  paid  every  year  with  interest ;  the  prin- 
cipal was  loaned  out  again  to  others,  and  the  interest  was 
applied  to  the  expenses  of  the  State.  The  trustees  were 


i88  THE  LABORER; 

taken  from  different  parts  of  the  State,  and  were  to  con- 
tinue in  office  four  years,  and  to  account  to  the  committee 
of  the  assembly.  At  the  expiration  of  the  term  they  were  to 
give  up  all  moneys  and  securities  into  the  hands  of  their 
successors  before  their  bonds  and  securities  could  be  dis- 
charged. This  money  was  in  use  up  to  1774. 

A  writer  of  this  period  says :  u  Paper  money  thus  lent 
upon  interest  will  create  gold  and  silver  in  principal,  while 
the  interest  becomes  a  resource  that  pays  the  charges  of 
the  government.  This  currency  is  the  stream  which  con- 
verts all  into  gold  that  is  washed  by  it.  It  is  upon  this  prin- 
ciple that  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  assembly  of  Penn- 
sylvania established  an  office  for  the  emission  of  paper 
money  by  loans." 

Adam  Smith  says:  "The  government  of  Pennsylvania 
without  amassing  any  treasure,  invented  a  method  of  lend- 
ing, not  money  indeed,  but  what  is  equivalent  to  money  to 
its  subjects,  by  advancing  to  private  people,  at  interest,  and 
upon  land  security,  paper  bills  of  credit,  and  transferable 
from  hand  to  hand  like  bank  notes,  and  declared  by  an  act 
of  assembly  to  be  a  legal  tender  in  all  payments.  It  raised 
a  moderate  revenue  toward  defraying  an  annual  expense  of 
$22,000.  Pennsylvania  was  always  moderate  in  her  emis- 
sions of  paper  money,  which  never  sunk  below  the  value 
of  coin." 

Franklin  states  that,  "The  colony  of  Massachusetts 
gave  bills  of  credit,  bearing  interest,  for  which  the  people 
loaned  coin,  and  afterward  passed  the  bills.  He  calls  it  con- 
venient money,  bearing  interest  while  in  the  pocket,  and 
when  passed  the  interest  was  calculated." 

The  citizens  of  Pittsburg,  in  1847,  or  near  tnat  time, 
built  water-works ;  the  corporation  got  a  note-plate  and 
printed  money,  which  paid  the  workmen  for  their  labor 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  189 

and  circulated  as  money.  These  notes  were  the  same  in 
appearance  as  other  bank  notes;  there  was  written  on  them, 
"  The  city  will  receive  this  one  dollar  in  payment  for  taxes." 
If  the  water-works  cost  $100,000,  and  capitalists  had  built 
them,  they  would  have  done  it  with  credit  paper  money.  For 
the  use  of  this  capital  the  citizens  would  pay -$7,000  an- 
nually, and  pay  it  for  generations  till  the  principal  was  paid. 
This  $100,000  cost  to  print  it  $200,  and  why  should  the 
citizens  of  this  city  pay  annually  $7,000?  Are  not  100,000 
citizens  as  rich  as  100  bankers,  and  can  they  not  give  se- 
curity to  their  own  money  ?  Why  should  these  industrious 
iron-workers  be  guilty  of  the  absurd  folly  of  keeping  a  par- 
cel of  fellows  in  idleness  for  supplying  some  paper  money  ? 
These  notes  could  be  carried  in  to  pay  water-rents,  and  be 
destroyed,  or  they  can  be  re-issued  to  pay  teachers  or  city 
officers.  In  this  way  the  city  can  have  money. 

In  olden  times  cities  and  governments  did  more  for  the 
people  than  is  done  now.  Men  are  degenerating.  The 
city  of  Hamburg,  to  maintain  its  poor,  opened  a  pawn-bro- 
ker's shop  and  took  goods  as  pledges.  The  city,  in  one  year 
made  $160,000.  The  sale  of  unredeemed  goods  increased 
this  fund. 

If  we  had  such  patriots  as  Franklin,  men  who  loved  the 
country,  who  had  some  regard  for  the  humble  poor,  and 
who  did  not  look  on  them  as  things  to  live  on,  such  men 
would  give  us  a  currency  that  would  not  fatten  idlers  to 
riot  on  the  labor  of  others.  Why  should  not  the  cur- 
rency pay  the  expenses  as  it  has  done  ?  Good  men  yet  are 
to  be  found ;  they  are  modest,  unassuming,  and  never  seek 
for  office.  There  are  many  who  would  serve  the  State 
with  pride  and  fidelity  as  loan  commissioners. 

What  a  happiness  it  would  be  if  the  hard-working,  wood- 
chopping,  land-clearing  farmer  could  borrow  money,  on  easy 


190  THE  LABORER; 

terms.  How  he  could  furnish  his  farm  !  There  is  an  other 
source  of  secure  and  profitable  lending — it  is  the  towns  that 
want  to  make  improvements,  and  can  give  the  taxes  as  se- 
curity. These  two — land  and  taxes — a  great  State  can  loan 
on  with  great  safety. 

The  county  of  .Miami,  State  of  Ohio,  had,  in  1854,  made 
improvements  to  the  amount  of  $94,000.  First,  a  union 
school,  at  a  cost  of  $13,000 ;  then  a  poor-house,  at  the  cost 
of  $20,000 ;  then  a  jail,  at  the  cost  of  $30,000  ;  and  then 
another  union  school-house,  at  a  cost  of  $33,000.  These 
improvements  were  made  in  the  space  of  ten  years,  for 
which  the  officers  agreed  to  give  as  interest  $9,400.  This 
interest  would  keep  twenty  men  in  idleness.  If  the  State 
had  loaned  its  notes  to  this  county  it  would  have  the  in- 
terest to  pay  its  expenses.  In  1857,  tne  authorities  of  the 
town  of  Cohoes  built  water  works  at  a  cost  of  $60,000,  for 
the  use  of  which  they  agreed  to  give  annually  $4,200,  and 
give  it  for  twenty  years,  the  length  of  time  agreed  on.  In 
this  time  the  citizens  of  Cohoes  will  have  paid  $84,000,  in 
interest,  which  will  make  the  water-works  cost  $144,000. 
It  would  have  been  wise  to  let  the  State  have  this  in- 
terest on  notes  it  could  issue.  It  would  be  wiser  still  to 
have  built  them  a  little  every  year. 

In  one  year  the  United  States  had  a  surplus  revenue.  It 
was  divided  among  the  States.  The  State  of  New  York 
received  as  its  share  $3,580,494,  which  loan  commissioners 
lent  out  for  the  benefit  of  the  school  fund.  The  State  of 
Connecticut  sold  the  lands  of  the  Western  Reserve,  and 
for  three-fourths  of  a  century  has  loaned  the  money  for  the 
benefit  of  schools.  This  proves  a  great  State  can  become 
lenders  of  money. 

The  governor  of  Ohio,  in  his  message  for  1857,  sa.vs  tne 
amount  of  the  state  and  county  taxes  were  $9,000,000,  and 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  191 

the  people  of  the  State  of  Ohio  on  $221,000,000  pay  in- 
terest. The  debts  of  the  State  are  $16,402,095  ;  cities, 
counties,  towns  are  $15,000,000;  recorded  mortgages  are 
$50,000,000 ;  and  railroad  debts  are  $50,000,000."  The 
interest  is  $15,000,000.  This  will  make  the  whole  nation 
to  pay  $150,000,000,  interest  for  their  debts.  This  will 
keep  many  from  productive  labor,  who  could  if  they  were 
farmers  find  one-third  of  the  nation  in  food.  There  are 
some  debts  on  which  the  State  might  loan. 

Jay  Cooke,  a  famous  banker,  has  made  enormous  wealth  ; 
he  has  a  summer  house  among  the  lakes  worth  $10,000. 
His  home  cost  more  than  $i, 000,000,  and  is  filled  with 
the  treasures  of  art,  and  all  the  creations  of  modern  luxury. 
This  man  has  the  arrogance  and  the  insolence  to  tell  us  in 
his  pamplet  that  "a  national  debt  is  a  national  blessing." 
This  book  will  rank  with  "Taxation  is  not  Tyranny." 

Andrew  Jackson,  says :  "  The  paper  system  being  found- 
ed on  public  confidence,  and  having  of  itself  no  intrinsic 
value,  it  is  liable  to  great  and  sudden  fluctuations,  thereby 
rendering  property  insecure,  and  the  wages  of  labor  unsteady 
and  uncertain.  The  corporations  which  create  the  paper 
money  can  not  be  relied  on  to  keep  the  circulating  medium 
uniform  in  amount.  In  times  of  prosperity,  when  confi- 
dence is  high,  they  are  tempted  by  prospects  of  gain,  or  by 
the  influence  of  those  who  hope  to  profit  by  it,  to  extend 
the  issues  of  paper  beyond  the  bounds  of  discretion  and  the 
reasonable  demands  of  business.  And  when  these  issues 
have  been  pushed  from  day  to  day,  until  public  confidence 
is  at  length  shaken,  then  a  reaction  takes  place,  and  they 
immediately  withdraw  the  credits  they  have  given,  and  sud- 
denly curtail  their  issues,  and  produce  an  unexpected  and 
ruinous  contraction  of  the  circulating  medium,  which  is 
felt  by  the  whole  community.  The  banks,  by  this  means, 


192  THE  LABORER; 

save  themselves,  and  the  mischievous  consequences  of  their 
imprudence  or  cupidity  are  visited  on  the  public.  Nor  does 
the  evil  stop  here.  These  ebbs  and  flows  in  the  currency, 
and  these  indiscreet  extensions  of  credit,  naturally  engender 
a  spirit  of  speculation  injurious  to  the  habits  and  character 
of  the  people.  We  have  already  seen  its  effects  in  the  wild 
spirit  of  speculation  in  the  public  lands,  and  various  kinds 
of  stock,  which,  within  the  last  year  or  two,  seized  upon 
such  multitudes  of  our  citizens,  and  threatened  to  pervade 
all  classes  of  society,  and  to  withdraw  their  attention  from 
the  sober  pursuits  of  honest  industry. 

"  It  is  not  by  encouraging  this  spirit  that  we  shall  best 
preserve  public  virtue,  and  promote  the  true  interest  of  our 
country.  If  the  currency  continues  as  exclusively  paper  as 
it  is  now,  it  will  foster  the  desire  to  obtain  wealth  without 
labor ;  it  will  multiply  the  number  of  dependents  on  bank 
favors  ;  the  temptations  to  obtain  money  at  any  sacrifice 
will  become  strong,  and  lead  to  corruption,  which  will  find 
its  way  into  your  public  councils,  and  destroy,  at  no  distant 
day,  the  purity  of  your  government.  Some  of  the  evils  of  this 
system,  press  with  hardship  upon  a  class  least  able  to  bear 
them.  A  part  of  this  currency  often  becomes  worthless." 
This  list  of  the  evils  of  paper  money,  should  warn  us  never 
to  found  paper  money  on  gold,  but  on  houses  and  lands. 

Harper's  Magazine,  April,  1858,  says:  "The  result  of 
our  commercial  revulsion  has  been  a  wholesale  confiscation 
of  property,  and  had  it  been  done  by  government  would  have 
led  to  civil  war."  Robberies  are  among  the  risks  of  bank 
capital. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

A    CENTURY    OF    INVENTIONS. 

WANT  A  MOTIVE  FOR  INVENTION— UNIVERSAL  RICHES  WILL  PREVENT  INVEN- 
TION— ARKWRIGHT'S  POVERTY  AND  INVENTION — WATT'S  IMPROVEMENT 
ON  THE  STEAM  ENGINE- 

"  Invent  or  perish." — MICHELET. 

|ISITING  a  State  fair  and  seeing  there  the  contri- 
vances to  shorten  human  labor  should  convince 
the  most  unbelieving  that  the  hours  of  toil  can  be 
shortened.  What  an  arena  of  industry  is  there!  Who 
can  contemplate  such  a  scene  without  emotion  ?  Here  are 
monuments  to  plenty,  and  the  evidence  that  famine  shall 
no  more  afflict  the  land.  Such  a  scene  would  lead  us  to  sup- 
pose that  this  plenty  is  universal.  It  is  not  so.  Cowper, 
when  speaking  of  the  plenty  in  England,  makes  one  excep- 
tion. This  painful  contrast  is  to  be  seen  here.  He  says : 

"  From  east  to  west,  no  sorrow  can  be  found  j 
Or  only  what  in  cottages  confined 
Sighs  unregarded  to  the  winds." 

There  is  evidence  in  this  fair  that  the  inequalities  of  life 
will  some  day  or  other  cease.  The  changes  in  the  people's 
amusements  indicate  this.  The  Romans  could  find  pleas- 
ure in  their  gladiatorial  shows,  which  were  scenes  of  cruel- 
ty. The  Middle  Ages  had  their  mock  battles  and  single 
combats,  called  jousts  and  tournaments.  Henry  the  VIII 

(193) 


194  THE  LABORER; 

paid  a  visit  to  the  French  king.  Beneath  a  canopy  of  gold 
cloth  the  two  sovereigns  met.  The  gay  pageantry  displayed 
on  that  occasion  has  obtained  for  the  place  of  meeting  the 
name  of  "  The  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold."  The  time  of 
Elizabeth  had  its  field  sports,  bull  and  bear  baiting,  which 
consisted  in  setting  dogs  on  these  poor  animals.  We  have 
cause  for  congratulation  that  these  scenes  have  passed  away, 
and  are  superseded  by  something  more  ennobling,  the  sight 
of  which  is  calculated  to  provoke  a  spirit  that  will  do  some 
good  to  ourselves  and  others. 

The  youth  of  this  land  have  the  story  of  "Aladdin  and 
his  Wonderful  Lamp."  The  story  says  that  Aladdin  had 
only  to  rub  his  lamp,  when,  whatever  he  wished  for  would 
appear,  be  it  a  beautiful  mansion,  a  mine  of  gold  or  jewels, 
or  a  garden  full  of  enchanting  scenery.  The  scenes  in  the 
State  fair  are  a  reality — no  conjuration  is  there.  The  crea- 
tions of  the  brains  of  men  are  wonderful. 

Franklin  said  he  would  like  to  see  the  time  come  when  a 
person  could  twist  more  than  one  thread  at  a  time.  He  lived 
to  see  one  hundred  spun  by  a  single  person.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  a  man  and  two  boys  can  tend  300  spindles,  going 
with  three  times  the  speed  of  a  hand-spindle.  Since  1760, 
a  community  of  workers  each  have  received  machinery  to 
assist  them  to  be  equivalent  to  forty  persons. 

A  State  fair  is  a  wonderful  display  of  man's  skill.  In  one 
part  of  this  arena  of  industry  may  be  seen  the  stationary 
engine,  doing  the  labor  of  ten,  perhaps  a  hundred  horses. 
How  quietly  it  performs  its  work  ;  it  never  murmurs  or  tires. 
It  is  the  inanimate  slave  of  man.  A  few  years  ago  wheat 
was  beaten  out  of  the  straw  by  tying  two  sticks  together, 
and  then  throwing  up  the  wheat  in  the  air  and  letting  the 
wind  blow  away  the  chaff.  In  this  manner  a  person  could 
thrash  and  clean  twelve  bushels  in  a  day.  A  thrashing  ma- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  195 

machine  attended  by  seven  persons  will  thrash  and  clean 
700  bushels  of  wheat  in  a  day.  In  a  State  fair  it  is  not  un- 
common to  see  attached  to  the  pulleys,  which  are  moved 
by  the  engine,  three  thrashing  machines,  mills  to  grind 
sugar-canes,  wheat  into  flour,  clay  for  bricks,  and  draining 
tiles.  In  addition  to  all  this,  the  engine  makes  shingles,  saws 
logs,  and  splits  wood. 

In  another  part  of  this  arena  of  industry  may  be  seen  ma- 
chines, whose  moving  power  is  horses.  A  machine  is  to 
be  seen  that  rakes  hay,  and  lifts  it  into  the  wagon.  A 
load  is  gathered  in  five  minutes.  Another  contrivance  lifts 
with  a  horse,  rope,  and  tackle  the  load  into  the  barn.  The 
machinery  that  has  been  invented  during  the  last  twenty 
years  for  saving  hay,  cuts  off  two-thirds  of  the  labor  in  the 
hot  part  of  the  year.  In  the  fair  is  exhibited  a  huge  saw 
six  feet  in  diameter;  the  teeth  are  six  inches  wide.  With 
this  a  strong  man  and  horse  can  saw  or  trench  in  the  soil 
100  rods  in  a  day.  This  saves  the  labor  of  ten  persons. 
The  arches  or  tiles  to  put  in  this  drain,  are  made  by  ma- 
chinery in  a  rapid  manner. 

Seed  drilling  machines  are  very  numerous  and  get  in  the 
seed  at  the  proper  period.  A  person  having  these  has  eight 
laborers  to  work  for  him.  Numerous  mowing  machines  are 
to  be  seen  beautifully  polished.  One  of  these  can  cut  down 
more  wheat  or  grass  than  ten  men.  Gang  plows  have  been 
invented  on  which  men  can  ride,  and  do  twice  or  three  times 
as  much  as  with  a  common  plow.  Steam  plows  have  been 
invented,  one  of  which  has  plowed  400  acres  of  land  in  a 
season.  Corn  cultivators  have  been  invented.  With  the 
aid  of  these  a  single  man  can  cultivate  sixty  acres  of  corn. 
These  implements  were  unknown  a  century  ago.  Time 
would  fail  to  tell  the  wonders  seen  in  a  State  fair.  It  is  a 
scene  which  the  nations  of  antiquity,  the  Saxons  and  Nor- 


196 


THE  LABORER; 


mans  never  saw.  This  scene  is  an  invention  of  modern 
times.  The  fruits  and  vegetables  displayed  there  were  un- 
known four  centuries  ago,  and  have  been  collected  by  en- 
terprising navigators,  who  have  given  us  a  more  pleasing 
variety  of  food. 

If  Franklin  could  say  in  his  time  "Want  and  misery 
would  be  unknown  if  all  would  work  at  something  useful," 
what  would  he  say  now  ?  The  time  has  now  come,  when 
the  laborer  should  work  for  himself  only  and  it  will  result 
in  the  non-workers  going  to  work,  who  will  make  such  an 
abundance,  that  men  will  not  torture  their  brains  making 
labor-saving  machines. 

That  want  leads  to  invention  may  be  proved  by  Richard 
Arkwright,  who  was  the  youngest  of  thirteen  children  of 
ignorance  and  poverty.  He  never  was  at  school.  He  was 
a  barber  and  rented  a  basement,  and  put  out  this  as  a  sign, 


A:    CLEAN    SHAVE  F 
A    PENNY. 


A  barber  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  put  out  this  sign, 

COME    TO    THE    SUBTERRANEAN    BARBER 
AND    BE    SHAVED    FOR    A    HALFPENNY. 

Men  are  selfish  and  avaricious.  They  try  to  get  each  other's 
work  away,  which  is  not  right  when  we  consider  how 
much  land  there  is  unoccupied.  Arkwright  was  forced  to 
quit  the  business  and  go  to  the  country  and  collect  hair  for 
the  wig-maker.  His  mind  seems  to  have  been  drawn  out 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  197 

to  schemes  for  the  abridgment  of  labor  by  machinery,  from 
which  no  change  of  time  or  place  could  divert  him  from 
making  plans  or  models  of  what  his  brain  conceived.  This 
sometimes  interfered  with  his  business,  and  his  wife,  con- 
vinced that  he  would  starve  his  family  by  scheming,  when 
he  ought  to  be  shaving,  in  a  fit  of  anger  destroyed  his 
models,  and  annihilated  his  prospects  for  wealth  and  fame. 
It  is  said  he  never  forgave  the  ruthless  deed,  but  separated 
from  her  at  once,  and  nothing  would  induce  him  to  live 
with  her  again. 

His  thoughts  had  often  been  drawn  to  mechanical  inven- 
tions. This  led  him  to  abandon  his  hair  speculations,  and 
give  his  mind  to  the  construction  of  a  machine  for  spinning 
cotton  by  rollers.  His  model  was  patented  in  1796.  At 
fifty,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  grammar,  and  to 
improvement  in  writing  and  spelling.  He  amassed  a  large 
fortune,  and  the  order  of  knighthood  was  conferred  on  him 
by  George  III. 

Arkwright  substituted  rollers  in  place  of  human  fingers. 
Before  he  made  his  machinery  50,000  people  obtained  their 
bread  by  working  by  hand  ;  after  his  invention,  2,000,000  of 
persons  got  their  bread  from  cotton.  This  must  include  the 
families  of  the  cotton-workers.  The  importation  of  cotton 
before  the  invention  was  annually  2,000,000  Ibs.  now  it  is 
500,000,000  Ibs.  There  was  50,000  hand-spindles,  now 
12,000,000  machine  spindles.  The  annual  value  of  cotton 
goods  ninety  years  ago  was  .£200,000.  The  value  now  is 
.£34,000,000.  This  invention  has  made  cotton  cloth  five- 
pence  a  yard.  It  was  ten  times  this  sum.  The  people  use 
now  twenty-six  yards  where  one  was  used.  The  annual  con- 
sumption is  700,000,000  yards.  The  quantity  sent  abroad 
is  560,000,000  yards.  In  1825,  the  spinning  machinery  of 

Lancashire  was  computed  to  be  equal  to  21,320,000  of 
18 


198  THE  LABORER; 

hand-spinners.  India  is  the  home  of  cotton  and  cotton 
cloth,  and  was  obtained  from  there  before  its  introduction 
into  England  and  America.  It  has  been  among  us  one 
hundred  years. 

In  1540,  Bernhard  Palissey,  of  France,  spent  sixteen 
years  trying  to  make  enameled  pottery.  His  motive  was  "to 
provide  a  handsome  support  for  his  wife  and  children."  He 
was  ambitious  to  be  the  prince  of  potters.  He  succeeded, 
after  years  of  sorrow,  difficulty,  and  trial.  To  procure 
chemicals  his  family  suffered  for  the  comforts  of  life.  To 
feed  his  furnaces,  he  burnt  the  palings  surrounding  his  house, 
and  even  its  doors.  He  endured  the  ridicule  of  his  friends, 
the  reproaches  of  his  wife,  and  the  persecutions  of  his  king, 
whose  minister  put  him  to  death  for  his  Protestant  religion. 
The  king,  to  save  him,  wanted  him  to  change  his  religion. 
Said  Palissey,  "  I  can  die." 

Charles  Goodyear  the  inventor  of  India-rubber  cloth,  or 
enameled  cloth,  and  many  other  things  of  this  material,  for 
many  years  suffered  the  bitterness  of  poverty  while  invent- 
ing. His  wife  used  to  often  say :  "  Charles,  you  must  pro- 
vide better  for  me  or  I  will  go  home."  His  answer  was,  UA 
little  while  longer  and  we  shall  have  splendid  wealth."  It 
came ;  he  triumphed. 

James  Watt  is  another  example  of  the  impelling  power 
of  poverty,  and  the  desire  to  attain  those  pleasures  that  the 
rich  gather  around  them.  He  was  a  mathematical  instru- 
ment-maker. He  removed  to  Edinburgh.  He  was  not  al- 
lowed to  start  a  shop  there,  for  the  reason  that  he  had  not 
learned  his  trade  in  that  city.  He  was  allowed  a  room  in 
the  college,  where  he  was  called  to  repair  a  Savery  steam- 
engine.  While  doing  this  work  he  thought  he  could  make 
an  improvement  which  he  did,  and  it  brought  the  engine 
into  varied  and  extensive  uses.  Previous  to  this  time  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  199 

engine  was  used  for  pumping  out  mines.  Had  Watt  been 
rich  he  would  have  had  no  motive  to  make  the  improve- 
ments he  did.  There  is  such  an  abundance  in  the  world, 
and  the  productive  powers  of  man  is  so  great,  that  riches, 
some  time  or  other  will  be  universal.  Riches  will  be  uni- 
versal when  universal  labor  prevails. 

Says  a  writer,  in  Harper's  u  History  of  Inventions :  " 
u  The  power  of  steam  far  surpasses  all  the  fabulous  wonders 
which  imaginative  genius  have  attributed  to  the  genii  of  the 
East,  or  the  invisible  fairies  who  are  made  to  perform  such 
marvels  in  old  English  legends.  The  very  elements  are 
conquered  by  this  mighty  agency ;  both  wind  and  tide  may 
oppose,  but  still  the  vessel  plunges  onward  in  spite  of  all 
opposition,  paddling  against  breeze  and  billow,  like  some 
extinct  monster  of  the  early  world,  armed  with  those  sweep- 
ing fins  that  fill  the  mind  of  the  geologist  with  wonder. 
This  new-born  giant  thrusteth  his  iron  arm  into  the  bow- 
els of  the  earth,  and  throws  up  its  treasures  by  thousands 
of  tons,  emptying  the  dark  mine  of  its  wealth,  then  leaping 
on  the  surface,  melting  with  its  hot  breath  the  weighty 
metal,  and  rolling  and  beating  it  into  massive  bars.  As  if 
struck  by  the  wand  of  a  magician,  the  iron  vessel  springs 
out  of  the  shapeless  mass  of  ore,  by  the  power  of  steam  is 
launched  upon  the  deep,  and  stands,  as  if  in  mockery,  be- 
side its  oak-built  rival,  every  rib  of  which  was  the  growth 
of  a  long  century.  The  very  leaves  that  rustle  in  our  hands 
while  we  read  were  formed  by  it,  and  every  letter  in  the 
large  sheet  of  daily  news  bears  the  imprint  of  its  majestic 
footstep. 

"Even  printing,  the  grandest  of  all  human  inventions,  was 
but  in  comparison  the  slow  copying  of  the  clerk,  beside  this 
ready-writer,  which  now  throws  off  its  thousands  of  perfect 
impressions  within  the  brief  space  of  a  single  hour.  It 


200  THE  LABORER; 

grinds  the  bread  we  eat,  and  gives  all  the  variety  and  beauty 
to  the  garments  we  wear.  It  stamps  the  wreath  of  flowers 
upon  the  flimsy  foundation  of  cotton.  And  yet  the  whole 
of  this  moving  power  can  be  stopped  by  a  child." 

Dr.  Lardner  says :  "A  pint  of  water  may  be  evaporated 
by  two  ounces  of  coal,  into  two  hundred  and  sixteen  gallons 
of  steam,  which  will  lift  thirty-seven  tons  a  foot  high.  A 
pound  of  coke  (charred  coal),  burned  in  a  locomotive,  will 
evaporate  five  pints  of  water,  and  draw  two  tons  on  a  rail- 
road one  mile  in  two  minutes. 

"A  train  of  cars,  weighing  eighty  tons,  and  containing 
240  passengers,  drawn  by  an  engine,  have  gone  from  Liver- 
pool to  Birmingham,  a  distance  of  ninety-five  miles,  in  four 
hours  and  a  quarter,  consuming  two  tons  of  coke,  the  cost 
of  which  is  two  and  a  half  pounds  ($i2j).  To  carry  these, 
twenty  stage  coaches  would  be  required.  It  would  take 
600  horses  to  accomplish  this  journey  in  twelve  hours. 

14  In  the  draining  of  the  Cornish  mines  the  economy  of 
fuel  is  attended  too,  and  coal  is  there  made  to  do  more 
work  than  elsewhere.  A  bushel  of  coal  raises  usually 
40,000  tons  of  water  a  foot  high." 

Nations  that  have  no  machinery  have  no  coal  fires.  The 
mines  require  constant  pumping  to  prevent  them  from  fill- 
ing with  water.  The  same  engine  that  pumps  out  the  mines 
lifts  up  the  coal  to  the  pit's  mouth.  The  railroads  take 
coal  to  every  part  of  England.  A  single  blast  of  pow- 
der will  detach  more  coal  than  a  laborer  can  loosen  in  a 
week.  Captain  Thomas  Savery  devised,  in  '1698,  a  ma- 
chine for  drawing  water  from  the  mines. 

The  French  assert  that  the  Marquis  of  Worcester  took 
the  idea  of  the  steam  engine  from  Solomon  De  Caus,  who 
published  a  book  at  Frankfort,  in  1615,  on  steam  as  a 
power.  A  letter  teaches  us  he  went  to  Cardinal  Richelieu 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  201 

who  dismissed  him  as  a  madman  without  hearing  him.  He 
still  importuned  the  Cardinal,  who  ordered  him  to  prison. 
He  had  been  there  three  years  and  a  half,  when  the  Marquis 
saw  him.  De  Caus  said,  "  I  am  not  mad  !  I  have  made  a 
discovery  that  will  enrich  any  country  that  puts  it  in  opera- 
tion.'* His  lordship  returned,  sad  and  thoughtful,  and  said  : 
"  He  is  indeed  mad  •,  misfortune  and  captivity  have  destroy- 
ed forever  his  reason.  You  have  made  him  mad ;  when 
you  cast  him  into  this  dungeon  you  cast  there  the  greatest 
genius  of  his  time,  and,  in  my  country,  instead  of  being  im- 
prisoned, he  would  have  been  loaded  with  riches." 

The  Marquis  of  Worcester,  living  during  the  civil  wars 
of  Charles  I  and  his  parliament,  took  sides  with  the  king, 
and  lost  his  fortune,  and  was  imprisoned  in  Ireland.  He 
managed  to  escape  to  France.  He  became  a  secret  agent 
afterward  in  England  for  the  king ;  he  was  detected  and  put 
in  the  Tower.  When  cooking  his  dinner  there,  he  ob- 
served that  the  steam  forced  upward  the  lid  of  his  pot.  It 
occurred  to  him  that  this  power  might  be  applied  to,  useful 
purposes.  When  he  got  his  liberty  he  went  to  work  and 
made  a  machine,  which  he  described  in  his  book. 

The  steam-engine  is  a  succession  of  improvements  from 
the  time  of  De  Caus  to  the  time  of  Watt.  Those  who 
have  made  changes  on  the  engine  are  the  Marquis  of  Wor- 
cester, Savery,  Papin,  Newcomen,  Brindley,  and  Smeaton. 
Their  contrivances  seem  to  have  been  how  to  get  the  pis- 
ton-rod back  again  after  the  steam  had  lifted  it  up.  This 
was  done  by  a  boy  who  opened  valves  or  cocks.  To  give 
the  reader  an  idea  how  the  engine  of  these  men  wonted, 
take  an  iron  barrel  and  partially  fill  it  with  water,  under  the 
bottom  of  the  barrel  kindle  a  fire,  and  you  make  steam;  on 
the  top  open  a  valve  and  the  steam  escapes.  To  get  serv- 
ice from  this  escaping  steam  construct  another  iron  barrel, 


202  THE  LABORER; 

closed  at  one  end  and  a  rim  on  the  other,  smooth  and  turn- 
ed straight  within.  In  this  barrel  you  want  a  movable, 
flat,  edge-turned  piece  of  metal.  If  you  let  in  steam  at  one 
end  its  expansibility  lifts  up  the  sliding  plate,  till  it  is  stop- 
ped by  the  rim.  A  contrivance  is  used  to  cut  off  the  supply 
of  steam.  If  water  is  thrown  on  the  outside  of  the  barrel 
containing  steam,  the  steam  will  become  condensed,  or  be- 
come water  again ;  this  leaves  a  vacuum  and  causes  the  flat 
piece  of  metal  to  fall  down ;  by  the  pressure  of  the  atmos- 
phere. That  the  atmosphere  has  power  is  evident,  when 
set  in  motion  it  throws  down  trees  and  houses,  and  moves 
great  ships.  When  in  a  state  of  rest  the  atmospheric  weight 
is  fifteen  pounds  to  the  square  inch.  To  reduce  this  prin- 
ciple to  utility,  you  must  put  a  rod  in  this  moving  piece  of 
iron  and  fasten  it  to  a  pump-handle;  steam  will  force  up 
the  handle,  atmospheric  pressure  bring  it  down.  This  en- 
gine required  a  boy  to  open  cocks,  and  force  water  into 
the  cylinder  to  condense  the  steam. 

"  Humphrey  Potter,  a  mere  lad,  who  was  occupied  in  at- 
tending to  the  cocks  of  an  atmospheric  engine,  becoming 
anxious  to  escape  from  the  monotonous  drudgery  imposed 
upon  him,  ingeniously  contrived  the  adjustment  of  a  number 
of  strings,  which,  being  attached  to  the  beam  of  the  engine, 
opened  and  closed  the  cocks  with  the  most  perfect  regu- 
larity and  certainty,  thus  rendering  the  machine  totally  in- 
dependent of  manual  superintendence.  The  contrivance 
of  Potter  was  soon  improved  upon.  The  whole  apparatus 
was  subsequently,  about  the  year  1718,  brought  into  com- 
plete working  order  by  an  engineer  named  Beighton. 

"Watt's  first  improvement  was  an  alteration  of  the  mode 
of  condensing  the  steam.  Instead  of  using  the  method  de- 
scribed, he  had  a  condenser  attached  to  the  cylinder,  and 
he  still  further  improved  upon  it  by  surrounding  it  with  a 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  203 

tank  of  cold  water,  which  was  drawn  from  an  adjoining  re- 
servoir by  the  pump  of  the  engine.  An  improvement  ef- 
fected in  the  steam-engine,  was  the  custom  adopted  by 
Watt,  of  closing  the  top  of  the  cylinder,  the  piston  being 
made  to  work  through  a  neck  called  a  stuffing-box,  which 
was  rendered  steam-tight  by  being  lined  with  tow  saturated 
with  grease,  which  rubbed  and  greased  the  rod  and  made  it 
move  easily. 

"  By  this  alteration  the  elastic  force  of  steam  was  used, 
as  it  is  now,  to  impel  the  piston  downward  as  well  as  up- 
ward. The  machine  hence  became  a  steam-engine  instead 
of  an  atmospheric  one,  with  that  continuous  action  from 
which  so  much  benefit  has  been  enjoyed  by  this  simple 
device. 

"  Notwithstanding  these  important  advantages,  Watt  and 
Boulton  were  compelled  to  make  large  sacrifices  to  bring 
their  engines  into  use,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  proposition 
of  Mr.  Boulton  to  the  Carron  Company: — 'We  contract  to 
direct  the  making  of  an  engine.  *****  We  do  not 
aim  at  profits  in  engine-building,  but  shall  take  out  our  pro- 
fits in  the  saving  of  fuel;  so  that  if  we  save  nothing,  we 
shall  take  nothing.  We  will  guarantee  that  the  engine  so 
constructed  shall  raise  at  least  20,000  cubic  feet  of  water 
twenty-four  feet  high,  with  each  hundred  weight  of  coal 
burned/" 

Those  who  obtained  these  engines  commuted  the  saving 
of  the  coal,  which  Watt's  engine  ^saved  over  the  others,  to 
an  annual  rent.  The  lessees  of  the  Chacewater  mine  paid 
an  annual  rent-charge  for  three  engines  $12,000.  This 
inventor  had  a  splendid  rural  home,  and  spent  the  last  years 
of  his  life  in  literary  pursuits.  In  Handsworth  Church  he 
is  represented  sitting  in  a  chair,  with  compass  and  paper,  in 
the  act  of  drawing.  His  fame  will  be  as  enduring  as  the 


204  THE  LABORER; 

the  marble  in  which  his  effigy  is  chiseled.  He  has  given 
his  name  to  the  steam-engine  that  may  never  be  laid  aside. 
We  can  form  some  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  his 
gift  to  man,  if  we  will  try  and  raise  coal  by  hand.  An 
opening  is  made  in  the  earth,  it  soon  fills  up  with  water ;  a 
windlass  when  turned  with  human  strength,  will  some  time 
or  other  draw  out  all  the  water;  then  the  digging  is  re- 
sumed, after  much  lifting  of  mud  and  water  the  coal-vein  is 
reached.  The  future  labor  is  now  to  lift  up  the  coal  and 
water,  -it  may  be  done  with  horse-power,  it  takes  much  hu- 
man labor  to  procure  food  for  the  horses.  Without  steam- 
power  the  bushel  of  coal  will  be  equal  or  worth  a  day's  labor. 
Now  a  day's  work  of  a  common  laborer  will  get  twenty 
bushels  of  coal. 

The  fame  of  the  inventions  and  experiments  that  had 
been  made  in  France  and  Scotland,  in  navigating  with  steam, 
induced  Fulton  to  cross  the  ocean  to  get  these  inventions 
on  our  long  rivers.  In  1775,  John  Fitch  made  a  steam-boat, 
with  which  he  made  eleven  voyages  from  Philadelphia  to 
a  town  distant  eleven  miles.  Washington  and  his  compan- 
ions were  invited  to  ride  in  the  boat.  The  maker  of  this 
boat  was  poor,  his  machinery  was  badly  made,  and  he  was 
unable  to  repair  his  boat. 

Fulton  got  Watt  and  Boulton  to  make  his  machinery, 
with  money  obtained  from  Livingston,  who  was  an  em- 
bassador  to  France.  Both  saw  on  the  Seine  a  discarded 
steam-boat.  Unitedly  they  perfected  a  steam-boat  on  the 
Hudson  in  1807.  That  Fulton  was  poor  may  be  inferred 
from  this  narrative.  A  gentleman  from  New  York  was  in 
Albany  when  the  Clermont  first  arrived  there.  He  found 
that  the  boat  was  a  general  object  of  wonder,  but  few  were 
willing  to  trust  themselves  on  it  as  a  means  of  conveyance. 
He,  however,  determined  to  go  in  this  boat  to  New  York. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  205 

In  the  cabin  he  found  a  plain  gentleman,  quite  alone,  and 
engaged  in  writing.  This  was  Fulton,  and  this  conversa- 
tion took  place : — 

Stranger.  Do  you  intend  to  return  to  New  York  with 
this  boat? 

Fulton.     We  mean  to  try  and  get  back  with  her,  sir. 

Stranger.     Can  I  have  a  passage  ? 

Fulton.      Yes,  if  you  choose  to  take  your  chance  with  us. 

Six  dollars  was  paid  as  the  passage  money.  With  his  eye 
fixed  on  this  money,  which  he  retained  in  his  open  hand, 
Fulton  remained  so  long  motionless,  that  the  stranger  sup- 
posed he  had  miscounted  the  sum,  and  asked,  "Is  that 
right,  sir  ? "  This  roused  the  projector  from  his  reverie, 
and,  as  he  looked  up,  the  big  tear  was  brimming  in  his  eye, 
and  his  voice  faltered  as  he  said — "Excuse  me,  sir,  but 
memory  was  busy  as  I  contemplated  that  this  is  the  first 
pecuniary  reward  that  I  have  ever  received  for  all  my  ex- 
ertions for  adapting  steam  to  navigation.  I  would  gladly 
commemorate  the  event  over  a  bottle  of  wine  with  you.  I 
am  too  poor  for  that  now,  yet  I  trust  we  shall  meet  again 
when  this  will  not  be  so."  They  did  meet  again  after  four 
years,  and  the  wine  was  not  spared. 

Fulton  observes :  "When  I  was  building  my  first  steam- 
boat at  New  York  the  project  was  viewed  with  indifference 
and  contempt  or  as  a  visionary  scheme.  My  friends,  in- 
deed, were  civil,  but  they  were  shy.  They  listened  with 
patience  to  my  explanations,  but  with  a  settled  cast  of  in- 
credulity on  their  countenances.  As  I  had  occasion  to  pass 
daily  to  and  from  the  building-yard  while  my  boat  was  in 
progress,  I  have  often  loitered  unknown  near  the  idle  groups 
of  strangers,  gathered  in  little  circles,  and  heard  various  in- 
quiries as  to  the  object  of  this  new  vehicle.  The  language 
was  uniformly  that  of  scorn,  or  sneer,  or  ridicule.  The 


206  THE  LABORER; 

loud  laugh  often  rose  at  my  expense  ;  the  dry  jest ;  the  wise 
calculation  of  losses  and  expenditures,  the  dull  but  endless 
repetition  of  the  Fulton  folly.  Never  did  a  single  encourag- 
ing remark,  a  bright  hope,  or  a  warm  wish  cross  my  path. 
Silence  itself  was  but  politeness  veiling  its  doubts,  or  hiding 
its  reproaches." 

Fulton's  biographer  says :  "  Before  the  boat  had  made 
the  progress  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  the  greatest  unbeliever 
was  converted !  The  man,  who  while  he  had  looked  on 
the  expensive  machine,  thanked  his  stars  that  he  had  more 
sense  than  to  waste  his  money  on  such  idle  schemes, 
changed  the  expression  of  his  features  as  the  boat  moved 
from  the  wharf  and  gained  her  speed;  the  jeers  of  the  igno- 
rant, who  had  neither  sense  nor  feeling  enough  to  repress 
their  contemptuous  ridicule,  were  silenced  for  the  moment 
by  a  vulgar  astonishment  which  deprived  them  of  the 
power  of  utterance,  till  the  triumph  extorted  from  the  in- 
credulous multitude  which  crowded  the  shores,  was  shouts 
and  acclamations  of  congratulation  and  applause ! 

u  The  whole  of  the  progress  up  the  Hudson  was  a  con- 
tinued triumph.  Those  on  board  of  the  several  vessels 
which  she  met  looked  with  astonishment  at  the  progress  of 
a  ship,  which  appeared  to  be  a  thing  instinct  with  life  rather 
than  a  fabric  moved  by  mechanical  means.  It  was  said 
that  to  them  she  had  a  most  terrific  appearance.  The 
first  steamers  used  pine  wood  for  fuel,  which  sent  forth  a 
column  of  ignited  vapor  many  feet  above  the  flue,  and 
whenever  the  fire  was  stirred,  a  galaxy  of  sparks  flew  off, 
and  in  the  night  had  a  very  beautiful  appearance.  Not- 
withstanding the  wind  and  tide  were  adverse  to  its  approach, 
they  saw  with  astonishment  the  vessel  was  rapidly  coming 
toward  them  ;  and  when  it  came  so  near  that  the  noise  of 
the  machinery  and  paddles  was  heard,  the  crews  in  some 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  207 

instances,  shrunk  beneath  their  decks  from  the  terrific  sight, 
and  left  their  vessels  to  go  on  shore,  while  others  besought 
Providence  to  protect  them  from  the  approach  of  the  mon- 
ster, which  was  marching  on  the  tide,  and  lighting  its  path 
by  the  fire  which  it  vomited." 

Mr.  Stephens,  of  Hoboken,  soon  after  this  launched  a 
steam-vessel  which  was  taken  to  the  Delaware  by  the  way 
of  the  ocean.  His  son  improved  on  Fulton's  models,  and 
gave  to  vessels  which  he  built  that  beauty  of  form  they 
now  possess,  and  a  capability  of  cutting  through  the  water  at 
the  speed  of  thirteen  miles  an  hour.  From  that  time 
steam-boats  have  multiplied,  till  all  large  rivers  are  studded 
with  them.  The  Marquis  of  Worcester  tells  us,  in  1655, 
in  an  obscure  statement  of  a  vessel  moved  by  steam,  "which 
should,  if  need  be,  pass  London  Bridge  against  the  current 
at  low  water."  Twenty  years  after  Captain  Savery  tried 
to  urge  a  vessel  by  means  of  an  atmospheric  engine.  He  had 
no  success.  At  the  same  time,  Denis  Papin,  a  French  phi- 
losopher, tried  to  prove  in  theory  that  steam  would  move  a 
boat.  Half  a  century,  later,  Jonathan  Hulls  took  out  a  pa- 
tent for  moving  vessels  by  steam.  His  plans  failed. 

At  length,  in  1774,  the  Comte  D'Auxiron,  a  French 
nobleman,  succeeded  in  the  construction  of  a  boat,  which, 
when  tried  on  the  Seine,  near  Paris,  moved  against  the 
stream,  though  slowly,  the  engine  being  of  insufficient 
power.  In  his  efforts  he  was  assisted  by  a  countryman  of 
his,  named  Perier,  who,  in  the  year  following  placed  a  steam 
boat  on  the  river,  with  an  engine  of  one-horse  power.  His 
means  were  also  insufficient.  The  Marquis  de  Jouffroy,  on 
the  Saone,  at  Lyons,  tried  a  boat  which  excited  much  at- 
tention. The  dreadful  disturbances  in  France  compelled 
him  to  leave  his  native  land.  On  his  return,  in  1796,  he 
learned  that  M.  Des  Blancs  had  obtained  his  plans  and  got 


208  THE  LABORER; 

them  patented.  The  government  would  give  no  redress  to 
the  marquis.  Robert  Fulton  was  at  that  time  experiment- 
ing in  France,  and  had  adopted  a  series  of  float-boards,  that 
were  fastened  perpendicular  on  an  endless  chain,  which  was 
stretched  over  two  wheels ;  these  were  fastened  on  each 
end  of  the  boat ;  the  working  of  this  chain  was  the  same  as 
a  belt  over  two  pulleys;  a  part  of  these  float-boards  were 
always  out  of  the  water.  Fulton  afterward  used  paddles. 
Des  Blancs  complained  of  the  infringement  on  his  patent; 
Fulton  showed  him  the  difference  between  the  two  ma- 
chines, and  offered  him  a  share  of  the  gains,  if  he  would 
bear  part  of  the  expense.  No  agreement  was  made. 

In  1784,  Rumsey  was  the  rival  of  Fitch.  He  made  a 
steam-boat  on  the  Potomac.  The  coal  used  was  half  a 
bushel  in  an  hour.  When  the  boat  was  loaded,  with  three 
tons' weight,  its  speed  was  four  miles  an  hour.  In  1793, 
Rumsey  went  to  England ;  assisted  by  others  he  had  a  ves- 
sel on  the  Thames  that  went  against  the  wind  and  tide  at 
the  rate  of  four  miles  an  hour. 

In  i787,Wm.  Symington  made,  in  Edinburgh,  a  boat  that 
attained  five  miles  in  an  hour.  In  1788,  Mr.  Miller  had 
an  engine  of  twelve-horse  power  made  and  put  in  a  boat, 
which  caused  it  to  go  with  a  speed  of  eight  miles  an  hour. 
Mr.  Miller  spent  a  handsome  fortune  in  obtaining  this  pub- 
lic benefit.  Symington  still  continued  to  persevere,  and  in 
1802,  he  made  for  Lord  Dundas  a  steam-tug  that  pulled  two 
vessels  containing  seventy  tons  of  goods.  Fulton  saw  the 
vessels  of  Symington,  and  had  been  on  a  successful  voy- 
age with  him  in  Scotland.  Fulton  made  notes  of  every 
thing  that  was  shown  him,  and  it  appears  he  was  let  into  all 
of  Symington's  secrets.  Every-thing  connected  with  steam 
was  explained  to  Fulton.  Mr.  Henry  Bell,  of  Glasgow,  was 
the  medium  of  communication  between  Fulton  and  the  con- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  209 

trivers  and  improvers  of  the  steamboat.  Fulton  received 
from  Mr.  Bell  drawings  of  the  boat  and  engines  which  they 
had  used.  Sometime  after  Fulton  had  received  these  draw- 
ings, he  wrote  to  Mr.  Bell,  to  say  he  had  constructed  a  boat 
from  them,  which  prompted  his  correspondent  to  turn  his 
attention  to  the  introduction  of  steam-navigation  in  his  own 
country.  He  set  to  work  and  made  a  model,  which  he  put 
into  the  hands  of  John  Wood  &  Co.,  who  built  for  him  a 
boat  of  forty  tons  burthen,  with  an  engine  of  three-horse 
power.  In  1812,  Mr.  Hutchinson  had  a  boat  made  with  an 
engine  of  ten-horse  power,  that  carried  one  hundred  pas- 
sengers to  Greenock,  twenty-seven  miles,  in  three  hours. 

The  history  of  steam-navigation  is  a  long  series  of  ex- 
periments on  which  labor,  ingenuity,  money,  and  time, 
have  been  spent,  impoverishing  and  making  the  heart  sick 
by  the  failure  of  the  plans  of  those  who  engaged  in  the  en- 
terprise of  giving  the  world  steamboats. 

If  we  could  visit  an  English  monastery  in  the  olden  time, 
we  should  see  the  patient  monks  sitting  at  their  desks,  with 
ink,  pens,  brushes,  gold,  and  colors,  adding  letter  to  letter, 
and  word  to  word,  in  thick,  angular,  black-letter  characters, 
from  month  to  month,  never  ceasing  except  to  eat,  sleep,  and 
attend  prayers.  Their  work  is  beautiful,  and  will,  when 
seen,  call  for  our  admiration.  These  written  books  were  to 
survive  when  the  hand  that  wrote  them  was  paralyzed  in 
death.  It  was  not  running  writing  as  is  used  now.  Every 
letter  had  many  strokes,  or  it  may  have  been  done  with  a 
brush,  and  it  may  have  taken  six  or  ten  times  the  labor  that 
writing  now  requires.  The  initial  letters  were  highly  orna- 
mented with  flourishes.  This  was,  no  doubt,  done  by  those 
who  had  the  taste  for  it.  Where  Italic  letters  are  used  now, 
the  manuscript  letters  were  done  in  red  ink,  which  are  as 
bright  as  they  were  five  hundred  years  ago.  The  parch- 


2io  THE  LABORER; 

ment  was  as  fine  and  as  thin  as  paper.  It  was  very  smooth, 
uniform,  and  white.  It  was  made  from  skins. 

This  method  of  communicating  knowledge  was  confined 
to  a  few.  The  cheap  and  rapid  multiplication  of  books  has 
been  accomplished  by  applying  steam-power  to  printing. 
In  ancient  times  the  thinking  men  got  a  glimpse  at  print- 
ing. The  Romans  could  take  movable  type  and  stamp  clay. 
For  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  the  Chinese  used,  no 
doubt,  blocks  or  pages  of  characters.  The  printing  of 
playing-cards  was  done  before  printing  words  or  thoughts ; 
this  may  have  done  much  toward  suggesting  the  idea  of  let- 
ter-making, or  movable  type. 

However  much  printing  may  do  to  record  the  deeds  of 
nations,  or  keep  from  forgetfulness  the  virtues  and  achiev- 
ments  of  men,  it  has  not  recorded  its  own  origin,  but  left 
it  in  much  obscurity.  In  1499,  the  "Cologne  Chronicle," 
forty-four  years  from  the  advent  of  printing  to  the  world, 
gathered  all  it  could  relating  to  this  wondrous  art.  The 
only  source  from  which  it  could  draw  its  materials  was  the 
traditions  of  men,  and  from  two  recorded  lawsuits  which 
the  inventors  of  printing  had. 

John  Gansfleisch  was  born  in  1397.  When  a  youth 
he  lived  in  Mentz,  with  a  family  of  the  name  of  Guttenberg, 
whose  name  he  adopted,  as  it  was  a  custom.  He  became 
implicated  in  one  of  the  insurrections  against  the  nobility,  so 
frequent  at  that  time,  and  which  resulted  in  the  freedom 
of  the  commercial  classes  of  Germany.  This  revolt  was 
not  successful,  and  he  went  to  Strasburg.  It  is  supposed 
he  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  taking  off  other's  writings 
from  carved  blocks.  His  enterprising  intellect  was  directed 
to  some  means  of  hastening  the  process.  A  thought  broke 
upon  him,  the  full  development  of  which  was  to  produce 
such  glorious  results.  The  supposition  came  on  him  that 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  21 1 

if  the  letters  he  saw  upon  the  block  could  be  separated  from 
each  other,  they  might  be  put  together  again  in  different  po- 
sitions, and  form  other  words;  and  thus  there  would  be  a 
power  of  endless  combination  with  a  small  stock  of  mate- 
rials. How  he  did  this  we  have  no  certain  means  of  know- 
ing, as  he  would  keep  this  discovery  to  himself. 

He  returned  to  Mentz  or  Mayence,  where  he  met  a 
wealthy  goldsmith  of  the  name  of  Faust ;  and,  together, 
they  entered  upon  an  undertaking  to  supersede  the  laborious 
occupation  of  the  manuscript  writer.  Between  them  they 
hit  on  the  expedient  of  casting  types  in  metal,  it  being  a 
more  durable  substance,  and  likely  to  increase  their  profits. 
Faust  had  in  his  employ  a  young  man  of  the  name  of  Peter 
Schoeffer,  who  suggested  the  stamping  of  letters  in  lead, 
so  that  they  could  be  changed  or  renewed.  This  was  ac- 
complished, and  the  process  of  printing  obtained.  The  part- 
nership of  these  three  men  was  begun  in  1440 ;  and  was 
not  productive  till  ten  years  after. 

Letters  at  first  were  made  of  wood,  which  were  not  very 
enduring.  Schoeffer  discovered  a  method  of  molding  let- 
ters in  metal,  which  so  pleased  Faust  that  he  gave  him  his 
only  daughter  in  marriage.  In  1458,  Guttenberg  retired 
from  the  concern  from  a  want  of  harmony.  They  com- 
pleted several  works  of  importance,  among  them  a  Bible. 
Bibles  were  made  so  rapidly  that  these  men  were  said  to  be 
in  league  with  the  devil.  The  storming  of  Mentz,  in  1462, 
by  an  enemy,  scattered  the  workmen.  Printing  was  com- 
menced in  Italy,  in  1466;  in  Paris,  in  1469;  in  London, 
in  1474;  in  Massachusetts,  in  1639  ;  in  Virginia,  in  1739, 
and  in  Cincinnati,  in  1793. 

The  press  was  a  screw,  and  made  of  wood,  till  the  Earl 
of  Stanhope,  a  nobleman  of  great  ingenuity,  and  an  amateur 
printer,  had  an  iron  lever  and  press  made,  in  1790.  In  this 


212  THE  LABORER; 

year,  W.  Nicholson  took  out  a  patent  for  printing  books, 
paper-hangings,  calico,  etc.,  on  a  cylinder,  and  the  motive 
power  was  to  be  steam  or  water.  Lord  Camelford,  his 
patron,  died,  which  prevented  the  machine  from  being  made. 
Konig,  a  German,  came  to  England  and  tried  to  apply 
steam-power  to  a  common  press,  without  any  success.  He 
then  applied  himself  to  cylindrical  printing,  and  succeeded  in 
printing  in  an  hour  1,000  copies.  He  was  attended  by  two 
boys.  In  i8u,the  "New Annual  Register"  was  printed  by 
steam.  Mr.  Nicholson  may  have  helped  Konig.  He  gave 
his  drawings  to  the  public.  An  agreement  was  made  with 
Konig  to  make  for  the  u Times"  paper  two  presses.  On 
the  28th  of  November,  1814,  this  paper  told  its  readers, 
that  they  were  for  the  first  time  reading  a  paper  printed 
by  the  power  of  steam. 

In  order  to  show  how  steam-power  saves  labor,  look  at 
"The  Cincinnati  Commercial."  Its  owners  have  to  supply 
to  their  customers  35,000  daily  papers,  or  near  that  num- 
ber. This  paper  is  "setup"  by  thirty  "compositors." 
On  a  hand-press  two  men  will  throw  off  1,000  papers  in 
ten  hours.  To  supply  the  demand  would  require  thirty- 
five  presses,  and  1,000  compositors  or  type-setters.  One 
set  of  hands  set  up  the  copy.  Then  it  is  multiplied  thirty- 
five  times  for  the  rest,  who  set  up  matter  for  the  presses 
to  work  next  day.  At  night  the  number  of  papers  required 
are  done.  The  first  set  of  compositors,  by  having  a  small 
"take,"  need  only  be  half  an  hour  in  advance  of  all  the 
rest. 

What  mighty  results  come  from  steam  working  for  us. 
After  the  thirty  printers  have  done  their  work,  four  stereo- 
typers  take  and  double  it,  which  is  done  in  this  manner: 
Three  sheets  of  a  peculiar  kind  of  paper  are  pasted  to- 
gether ;  it  is  laid  on  a  page  of  the  type,  and  then  beaten 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  213 

gently  with  a  brush  till  the  paper  fills  up  the  crevices  of  the 
type,  the  form  is  laid  on  a  steam-heated  stone,  a  powerful 
screw  presses  the  soft  paper  on  the  face  of  the  type,  and  in 
ten  minutes  it  is  hardened ;  this  paper  sheet  is  put  in  a 
mold,  and  the  melted  metal  is  poured  in.  The  casting  is 
formed  so  as  to  fit  the  cylinder.  The  Commercial  uses 
two  presses,  which  makes  the  stereotypers  do  the  labor  of 
thirty  compositors.  In  six  hours  these  four  men  have  cast 
sixteen  pages  of  the  Commercial.  If  stereotyping  were  un- 
known, this  paper  would  require  sixty  compositors. 

The  metal  pages  go  to  the  basement  press-room.  One 
of  these  cylinder  presses  gives  12,000  impressions  in  an 
hour,  the  other  8,000.  If  one  of  the  monk  scribes  could 
see  this  revolving  printing  machine,  he  would  be  speechless 
with  wonder  for  some  time.  The  large  machine  is  thirty- 
two  feet  high  and  forty  feet  long.  It  is  fed  by  eight  persons. 
The  papers  are  folded  by  machinery.  A  machine  will  fold 
10,000  papers  in  an  hour.  The  compositors,  proof-readers, 
stereotypers,  folders,  and  pressmen  of  the  Commercial  office 
number,  perhaps,  sixty  persons.  These  working  ten  hours  a 
day  will  produce  as  much  writing  as  6,000,000  of  the  monk- 
ish writers.  A  compositor  will  set  up  six  of  these  pages 
in  a  day.  A  writer  can  do  the  same  amount  of  writing.  A 
printer  can  bring  to  help  him  machinery  to  multiply  his 
work  to  an  enormous  extent. 

The  invention  of  stereotyping  is  an  important  one.  It  is 
to  cast  a  page  of  type,  so  that  it  will  be  solid,  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  thick.  In  1725,  Wm.  Ged,  of  Edinburgh,  made  an 
arrangement  with  the  University  of  Cambridge  to  cast 
Bibles  and  Prayer-Books.  It  received  so  much  opposition 
from  the  workmen,  that  it  was  discontinued.  In  1804,  this 
art  was  brought  into  use  again.  This  plan  is  used  for  books: 
The  face  of  the  type  is  oiled,  plaster  of  Paris  is  mixed  with 


214  THE  LABORER; 

water  till  it  is  as  thick  as  cream,  then  it  is  poured  on  the 
type.  To  keep  it  from  running  off  a  frame  is  put  around  the 
edge  of  the  page,  which  makes  the  plaster  to  be  half  of  an 
inch  thick.  A  screw  is  at  each  corner  of  the  frame  to  lift  it 
up.  The  cast  is  put  in  a  flat  pan,  the  lid  is  fastened  on  ;  it  is 
put  in  a  cauldron  of  melted  metal.  When  rilled  up  it  is 
allowed  to  stand  in  water  till  cooled.  The  plate  is  shaved 
on  the  back,  then  it  is  picked,  which  means  the  bad  letters 
are  to  be  repaired,  or  others  inserted.  One  molder,  one 
caster,  and  two  others  will  finish  100  plates  in  a  day. 

A  cast  plate  taken  from  a  type  page  of  this  book  will 
weigh  one  pound,  and  cost  fifty-five  cents,  as  wages  are 
high  on  account  of  the  abundance  o/  paper  money.  A  page 
of  this  book  in  type  will  weigh  seven  pounds  and  will  cost 
$3.85.  The  type-setting  adds  fifty  cents  more  to  the  page. 
When  the  pressman  makes  up  the  "  form,"  it  saves  his  time 
to  handle  only  400  Ibs  in  place  of  2,800  Ibs.  The  page  of 
type  is  liable  to  be  broken,  or,  lose  a  part  of  its  letters,  the 
type  page  requires  very  careful  handling. 

Twenty  years  ago  electrotyping  was  applied  to  printing. 
This  art  takes  beeswax  and  melts  it  with  other  substances. 
By  means  of  heat  this  wax  flows  level  on  a  plate,  and  it  is 
placed  on  pages  of  type  and  wood-engravings  ;  then  it  is  put 
when  cold,  under  a  very  powerful  press.  The  impression  is 
put  in  a  trough  containing  sulphuric  acid,  in  which  has  been 
dissolved  pieces  of  copper.  A  galvanic  battery  causes  the 
copper  to  deposit  on  the  wax.  The  result  is  an  indestructi- 
ble copper  page,  or  an  engraving  that  is  hard  and  will  not 
wear  out  like  a  wood-engraving.  This  invention  has  set 
aside  the  costly  copper  engraving.  Messrs.  O'Ferral  and 
Daniel,  of  Piqua  O.,  wish  to  advertise  a  new  agricultural  ma- 
chine ;  they  will  send  a  drawing  to  a  wood-engraver,  for  an 
engraving  he  will  charge  near  $20.  The  electrotyper  will 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  215 

reproduce  it  for  fifty  cents  a  copy,  which,  when  multiplied, 
can  be  sent  to  every  paper  in  the  State.  The  initial  letter, 
head,  and  ending  of  these  chapters  are  electrotype  engraved. 
Machinery,  when  used  on  women's  shoes,  enables  a  man 
to  sew  a  pair  of  soles  on  in  three  minutes;  and  a  pair  of 
good  'Masting  shoes"  can  be  made,  by  a  division  of  labor, 
by  each  workman,  in  twelve  minutes. 

Furniture  making  is  not  the  laborious  business  it  was. 
A  table-frame  can  be  made  in  twelve  minutes,  that  used  to 
take  five  hours  by  hand  labor.  It  is  painful  work  to  plane 
hard  and  knotted  wood.  The  planing  machine  takes  the 
cross-grained  oak,  gnarled  ash,  curled  maple,  and  tough 
walnut,  and  planes  them  so  accurately  that  it  can  not  be  at- 
tained by  hand.  The  face  of  a  board,  twelve  feet  in  length, 
can  be  planed  in  a  minute.  It  used  to  take  a  day  to  plane, 
tongue,  and  groove  fifty  floor  boards ;  now  machinery  will  do 
this  to  1,000  boards  in  a  day.  A  century  ago  a  saw-mill  was 
unknown.  Timber  was  sawn  by  hand  over  a  pit  by  two 
persons;  one  above,  the  other  under  the  log. 

Machinery  has  been  introduced  into  the  tinner's  trade.  It 
does  many  things  that  once  were  done  by  hand.  To  make 
a  plate,  a  dipper,  a  basin,  will  require  much  marking,  clip- 
ping, and  soldering ;  by  steam  machinery  each  of  these,  and 
other  things,  too,  can  be  made  at  a  single  stroke. 

Aided  by  steam  a  workman  can  make  in,  a  day,  ten  car- 
riage wheels.  It  will  take  a  day  to  make  a  carriage  wheel 
by  hand.  Plow  handles  can  be  made  so  fast  with  steam 
that  a  man  can  make  100  smooth,  bent  handles  in  a  day. 

Steam  helps  the  blacksmith  in  a  wonderful  manner.  He 
does  not  have  to  heat  and  pound  his  scraps  together,  to 
make  a  fire-shovel.  By  railroad  his  scraps  are  taken  to 
the  rolling-mill,  where  they  are  made  into  iron  sheets  of  va- 
rious thicknesses,  or  into  bars,  round,  oval,  and  flat.  These 


216  THE  LABORER; 

make  the  forming  of  the  shovel  an  easy  task.  Steam-power 
rolls  out  the  railroad-tie,  clips  the  massive  bar,  hammers 
out  the  ponderous  anchor,  and  shapes  the  little  nail. 

When  your  ancestors  were  righting  to  be  free  from  Eng- 
land, a  noble  Englishman  invented  the  moving  rest,  that 
holds  the  cutting  point  to  the  revolving  surface  of  a  steam- 
boat shaft,  that  is  held  in  a  lathe.  This  contrivance  saves 
the  workman  from  standing  and  holding  his  tool  to  what  is 
turning.  This  gives  leisure  for  reading.  So  does  the  iron 
planer,  it  saves  men  from  "chipping"  and  "filing." 

Steam  cuts  the  edges  of  books  with  great  rapidity.  Book- 
binder's tools  twenty  years  ago  were  simple.  The  hand- 
knife  would  scarcely  cut  a  dozen  pages.  Six  of  these  books 
are  put  under  the  steam-moved  knife,  and  their  edges  are  cut 
in  an  instant.  Steam  now  makes  paper  very  rapidly. 

The  New  England  Indian  had  no  iron.  He  peeled  birch- 
bark  off  the  trees  with  his  hands  to  make  a  house.  He  burned 
down  the  trees  to  have  fire.  His  food  and  clothes  had  to  be 
sufficient,  or  he  would  perish  from  the  earth  with  want. 

The  living  of  some  of  our  people  is  as  precarious  as  the 
Indian's.  Steam  is  making  its  encroachments,  it  mixes  and 
bakes  bread,  does  washing,  wood-sawing,  and  needle-work. 
These  things  make  the  living  laborer  feel  sad  ;  he  feels  he  is 
not  wanted  here.  The  difficulties  of  obtaining  employment 
are  increased  by  doing  every  thing  by  steam.  We  ought  to 
live  easy  and  free  from  care  with  such  a  power  to  work  for 
us.  Suffering  is  going  to  teach  the  American  people  how 
base  rulers  have  acted  to  let  speculators  have  public  lands. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MERCHANTS    AND    LAWYERS. 

MERCHANTS  ARE  THE  FOUNDERS  OF  CITIES — A  CAUSE  OF  THE  OVERTHROW  or 
SLAVERY — MERCHANTS  ARE  TOO  NUMEROUS — THE  CAUSES  WHY  LAWYERS 
EXIST — THE  LAWYERS  ARE  TOO  NUMEROUS — An  INJURY  TO  SOCIETY. 

"  Do  you  want  any  needles,  any  thread,  any  lace  for  your  cape."-SHAicspEARE' 
"  A  Lawyer  takes  your  estate  from  your  enemy  and  keeps  it  himself.  "-£RSKINE. 

jABOR  is  made  the  positive  condition  of  man's  ex- 
istence. Labor  is  a  decree  binding  on  all.  From 
this  there  is  no  escape.  A  life  of  toil  is  binding 
on  all  animated  nature,  from  the  stupendous  whale  that 
dives  in  the  ocean,  to  the  ephemeral  insect  whose  exist- 
ence is  but  for  a  single  day.  All  men  have  the  same  form 
and  appearance :  it  follows  all  men  ought  to  labor.  As  all 
men  are  the  same  in  their  wants  and  conditions,  all  ought 
to  have  the  same  rewards  for  their  labor,  and  an  equal 
right  to  the  earth,  in  which  are  the  means  of  happiness.  If 
a  man  has  to  labor  for  himself  and  another,  he  has  to  labor 
twice  as  hard,  or  twice  as  long.  In  civilized  society  as  it 
progresses,  few  have  to  maintain  many. 

Those  who  seek  for  easy  work  do  an  injustice  to  those 
who  do  the  hard  work.  It  should  be  borne  equally  alike  by 
all.  There  seems  to  be  a  disposition  among  the  humble 
classes  to  dispense  with  retail  merchants,  and  to  divert  the 
wealth  that  flows  into  the  coffers  of  the  merchant  into  their 
own  slender  purses.  Merchants  have  exercised  a  tremen- 


2i 8  THE  LABORER; 

dous  influence  on  this  earth.  The  time  may  come  when 
the  humble  workers  will  break  up  their  power.  It  can 
not  be  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  bales  of  paper  are 
converted  into  newspapers,  and  then  scattered  over  the  land, 
each  of  which  contains  the  wholesale  price  of  the  necessa- 
ries of  life,  and  not  teach  the  working  people  to  combine  to 
get  them  at  cost  price. 

Eight  centuries  ago  the  merchant  in  England  was  des- 
pised by  the  lords  of  the  manors  ;  he  went  from  place  to 
place  with  his  goods,  and  was  often  robbed,  or  paid  a  large 
tribute  or  toll  to  be  exempt  from  pillage.  He  settled  the 
towns,  and  gathered  around  him  the  men  of  toil  and  sorrow. 
These  became  opulent  by  engaging  in  manufactures  and 
commerce.  The  favor  of  these  merchants  was  courted  by 
kings  and  lords,  to  gain  the  ascendency  over  each  other. 
These  sent  deputies  to  London,  who  at  first  sat  at  the  foot 
of  the  House  of  Lords.  These  deputies  were  put  in  a 
room  by  themselves.  Merchants  and  manufacturers  have 
become  titled  lords,  and  have  purchased  manors  and  manor 
houses.  William  Pitt  came  from  a  family  of  merchants. 
The  Peel  family  came  from  a  calico  printer,  and  own  the 
Drayton  manor. 

Ricardo,  a  Jewish  banker,  had  a  way  of  "  watching  the 
turn  and  variations  of  the  [money]  market."  This  watch- 
ing yielded  him  millions  of  dollars,  with  which  he  bought 
the  estate  of  two  Norman  families,  Honey  wood  Yates  and 
a  Scudamore.  These  estates  give  a  rent  of  $50,000  a  year. 
Holland,  one  of  Baring's  partners,  has  bought  an  estate  of 
Lord  Somers,  for  $4,000,000.  The  same  lord  has  sold  an 
estate  to  a  Birmingham  banker,  of  the  name  of  Taylor,  for 
$3,500,000.  Mr.  Drummond,  a  banker,  bought  an  estate, 
pulled  down  the  manor  house,  and  blotted  out  the  memory 
of  the  Goodshalls.  Mr.  Tinkler,  a  powder-maker,  got  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  219 

old  mansion  and  estate  of  the  Duchess  of  Marlborough. 
Mr.  Laing,  a  West  Indian  merchant,  has  a  place  once 
owned  by  Sir  Wm.  Temple.  Alexander  Baring  has  the 
mansion  and  estate  of  the  Duke  of  Bolton,  and  also  the 
noble  mansion,  park,  and  estate  of  Lord  Northington.  Sir 
Thomas  Baring  has  succeeded  the  Russells  to  the  estates  of 
Stratton  and  Micheldover,  which  were  once  owned  by  King 
Alfred.  It  has  been  computed  that  the  Barings  have  swal- 
lowed up  more  than  thirty  of  the -estates  of  the  small  nobil- 
ity. These  sharks  that  have  devoured  so  many  fish,  can 
yet  be  destroyed  by  the  working  people,  if  they  will  only 
act  soberly  and  prudently. 

There  seems  to  be  a  mighty  change  coming  over  the 
English  working  people :  they  are  forming  partnerships  to 
carry  on  their  trades;  others  are  taken  into  partnerships 
by  their  employers,  who  give  them  a  share  of  the  profits. 
The  greatest  change  of  all  is  to  buy  the  goods  of  the  whole- 
sale merchant,  and  then  divide  them  without  using  mer- 
chants. This  plan  uses  no  bankers. 

The  most  remarkable  case  of  co-operation  is  that  of  the 
jggr"  EQUITABLE  PIONEERS'  SOCIETY  OF  ROCHDALE. "~©a 
This  is  in  England,  and  was  commenced  in  1844,  by  some 
forty  poor  and  humble  working-men,  with  less  than  ten 
dollars  in  their  treasury,  and  an  income  of  two  pence  in  a 
week  from  each  shareholder — its  object  being  that  of  pe- 
cuniary benefit  and  improvement  of  the  social  and  domes- 
tic condition  of  its  members.  From  this  simple  beginning 
it  has  grown  to  have  seven  departments,  and  the  capital  is 
now  $75,000,  and  its  shares  are  five  dollars,  of  which 
$18,000  are  in  the  mill. 

The  pioneers  have  incurred  no  debts  and  made  no  losses. 
Their  aggregate  dealings  have  amounted  to  $1,500,000. 
They  have  never  had  a  lawsuit,  and  nearly  a  hundred  per- 


22O  THE  LABORER; 

sons  are  employed  by  the  society.  Twelve  are  employed 
in  the  store.  Over  the  store  is  a  reading-room  of  papers, 
and  a  library,  containing  2,200  books,  for  the  families  of  the 
members.  Toad  Lane  is  crowded  with  cheerful  co-oper- 
atives ;  as  much  as  $2,000  are  taken  in  a  single  day  and 
night.  Says  a  writer :  "  It  is  not  the  brilliancy  of  commer- 
cial activity,  in  which  the  reader  will  take  any  interest ;  it 
is  the  new  and  improved  spirit  animating  this  intercourse  of 
trade.  Buyer  and  seller  meet  as  friends.  Toad  Lane,  on 
Saturday  night,  is  as  gay  as  the  Lowth  Arcade  in  London, 
and  ten  times  more  moral. 

u  These  crowds  of  hard-working  men  once  never  knew 
when  they  had  good  food ;  their  dinners  were  adulterated ; 
their  shoes  let  in  water  too  soon ;  their  coats  shone  with 
devil's  dust,  and  their  wives'  wore  calicoes  that  would  not 
wash.  These  now  buy  like  millionaires,  and  get  as  pure 
food  as  the  lords.  They  are  weaving  their  own  stuffs,  mak- 
ing their  own  shoes,  sewing  their  own  garments,  grinding 
their  own  wheat,  slaughtering  their  own  cattle,  buying  the 
purest  sugar,  and  the  best  tea  and  coffee.  The  finest  beasts 
of  the  land  waddle  down  the  streets  of  Rochdale,  for  the 
consumption  of  flannel  weavers  and  cobblers. 

"  When  did  competition  give  poor  men  these  advantages  ? 
And  will  any  man  say  the  moral  character  of  this  people  is 
not  improved  under  these  influences?  The  teetotalers  of 
Rochdale  acknowledge  that  the  store  has  made  more  men 
sober  than  all  their  efforts  have  done.  Husbands,  who  never 
knew  what  it  was  to  be  out  of  debt,  and  poor  wives,  who, 
during  forty  years,  never  had  a  six-pence  unmortgaged  in 
their  pockets,  have  now  little  stores  of  money  sufficient 
to  build  a  cottage.  In  their  own  market  there  is  no  dis- 
trust, no  deception,  no  adulteration,  and  no  second  price. 
Those  who  serve  neither  hurry,  nor  flatter.  They  have  but 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  221 

one  duty  to  perform — that  of  giving  full  weight,  fair  meas- 
ure, and  a  pure  article.  In  other  parts  of  the  town  where 
competition  is  the  principle  of  trade,  all  the  preaching  of 
Rochdale  can  not  produce  effects  like  these." 

The  "London  Morning  Star"  gives  the  following  inter- 
esting account  of  a  co-operative  experiment  in  England, 
which  has  been  productive  of  excellent  results,  and  saves 
twenty  per  cent,  of  family  supplies:  "Of  all  the  branches 
of  the  civil  service  the  Post-office  is  the  most  enterprising, 
and  it  was  in  this  department  a  co-operative  movement  be- 
gan. In  1865,  the  increased  dearness  of  living  was  press- 
ing severely  on  those  with  fixed  incomes.  Half  a  dozen 
members  of  the  Post-office  determined  to  try  whether,  by 
buying  in  large  quantities,  and  dividing  the  articles  so  bought 
among  themselves,  they  could  not  get  supplied  more  cheap- 
ly than  in  the  ordinary  manner.  In  order  that  the  pur- 
chases be  made  on  the  lowest  terms,  it  was  settled  that  all 
payments  should  be  in  ready  money. 

"The  experiment  was  commenced  on  a  small  scale,  with 
fifty  pounds  of  tea.  Each  individual  received  a  share  of 
tea,  which  he  paid  for.  It  was  found  that  a  shilling  was 
saved  on  a  pound.  Whole  chests  were  obtained,  and  the 
consumers  increased  rapidly.  Other  articles  were  also  ob- 
tained. In  the  course  of  a  month  a  little  society  was  at  first 
formed,  and,  after  much  anxious  deliberation  as  to  whether 
the  expense  could  be  met,  a  small  store-room  near  the  of- 
fice was  obtained,  so  as  to  be  easy  of  access.  Wholesale 
houses  agreed  to  let  the  members  have,  for  ready  money, 
goods  at  reduced  prices,  on  condition  that  they  call  on  cer- 
tain days,  and  at  stated  hours. 

"  From  a  small  beginning  this  supply  association  went  on, 
till  it  had  several  rooms,  in  which  were  hosiery  and  station- 
ery. The  amount  of  the  sales  in  one  year  was  $100,000. 


222  THE  LABORER; 

There  was  divided  50,000  Ibs  of  tea,  20,000  Ibs  of  cof- 
fee, 180,000  Ibs  of  sugar,  20,000  Ibs  of  candles,  23,000 
Ibs  of  rice,  12,000  Ibs  of  soap.  This  association  num- 
bers 4,000  members,  and  they  have  physicians,  lawyers,  bro- 
kers, and  architects,  who  charge  lower  rates  to  each  other. 
These  statements  show  that,  by  the  co-operation  of  consum- 
ers, the  cost  of  family  supplies  may  be  reduced  one-fifth. 
Similar  experiments  have  recently  been  made  in  France 
with  the  same  good  results." 

There  are  many  American  mechanics  who  earn  $1,000 
in  a  year;  by  adopting  this  plan  $200  a  year  can  be  saved. 
This,  in  ten  years,  will  give  $2,000,  which  will  obtain  a  fine 
house  and  furniture.  Americans  can  see  the  injustice  of 
slaves  supporting  masters,  they  can  not  see  the  injustice 
they  do  themselves  by  keeping  merchants.  In  the  streets 
of  Cincinnati,  in  the  fall  of  1867,  men  offered  the  fore- 
quarters  of  beef  for  five  cents  a  pound,  and  the  hind-quar- 
ters for  six.  In  the  market  beef  sold  from  ten  to  twenty 
cents  a  pound.  It  seems  the  Englishman  buys  the  fat  ox, 
hires  the  butcher  to  kill  him,  and  distributes  the  meat.  Is 
not  this  evidence  that  the  laborer  will  prevent  the  merchant 
from  buying  any  more  baronial  halls  or  manor  lands. 

In  1867,  dressed  hogs  sold  for  seven  and  a  half  cents  a 
pound  in  Cincinnati.  The  pork  merchants  buy  these  and 
cure  them  ;  the  retail  dealers  charge  for  this  meat  in  the 
form  of  hams,  lard,  and  bacon,  from  eighteen  to  twenty- 
five  cents  a  pound.  As  the  present  generation  do  not 
know  how  the  people  lived  thirty  years  ago,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  tell  them.  In  those  days  men  did  not  live  in  cel- 
lars and  garrets.  The  cellar  was  a  store-room  for  meat, 
apples,  and  potatoes.  The  meat,  when  cured,  had  a  piece 
of  wood  attached  to  it,  on  which  was  carved  the  owner's 
name,  who  sent  it  to  the  public  smoke-house,  the  owner  of 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  223 

which  charged  two  cents  for  smoking  a  ham.  The  wife 
and  children  went  and  gathered  a  load  of  apples,  or  twenty 
bushels  at  a  cost  of  twenty  cents  a  bushel.  The  farmer 
brought  to  the  town  family  a  winter's  supply  of  potatoes, 
without  the  merchant's  profits.  A  barrel  of  cider  cost  a 
dollar,  which  made  vinegar  for  a  year.  At  the  present  time 
the  merchant  fills  his  cellar  with  potatoes,  at  a  cost  of  a 
dollar  a  bushel ;  they  are  sold,  too  often,  to  the  improvident 
laborer  for  $1.25  to  $2.00  a  bushel.  This  was  the  price 
at  the  gathering  time  in  1867.  In  the  spring  the  price  was 
$2.00.  Apples  sold  at  the  same  rates. 

The  "North  British  Review,"  November,  1852,  said: 
uThe  number  of  retail  trades  and  shop-keepers  is  out  of 
proportion  to  the  requirements  of  society,  or  the  number  of 
the  producing  classes.  There  are  in  many  places  ten  shop- 
keepers to  do  the  work  of  one,  such  at  least  is  Mr.  Mill's 
estimate.  Now  these  men,  industrious  and  energetic  as 
they  are,  do  not  add  to  the  wealth  of  the  community ;  they 
merely  distribute  what  others  produce.  Nay  more,  in  pro- 
portion as  they  are  too  numerous  do  they  diminish  the 
wealth  of  the  community.  They  live,  it  is  true,  many  of 
them,  by  snatching  the  bread  out  of  each  other's  mouths ; 
but  still  they  do  live,  and  often  make  great  profits. 

"These  profits  are  made,  by  charging  a  per  centage  on 
all  articles  they  sell.  If,  therefore,  there  are  two  of  these 
retail  dealers  to  be  supported  by  a  community  when  one 
would  suffice  to  do  the  work,  the  articles  they  sell  must 
cost  that  community  more  than  needs  be  the  case,  and  so 
far  the  country  is  impoverished  by  supporting  one  unpro- 
ductive laborer  too  many.  Any  one  who  has  examined  in- 
to the  subject  is  surprised  to  find  how  small  a  portion  goes 
to  the  producer  or  importer,  and  how  large  a  portion  is  ab- 
sorbed by  the  distributer." 


224  THE  LABORER; 

There  is  another  movement  in  England  worthy  the  at- 
tention of  the  American  who  sells  his  labor,  on  which  the 
employer  frequently  makes  one-half  of  the  amount  of  his 
wages.  Thomas  Hughes  says:  "That  by  far  the  most 
important  question  arising,  on  the  occasion  of  the  recent 
gathering  of  the  Social  Science  Congress  at  Manchester, 
is  co-operation,  a  term  which  expresses  a  fair  compromise 
between  capitalists  and  laborers,  whose  contests  for  so  many 
years  in  England  have  been  severe  and  expensive  to  both. 
Co-operation,  within  the  last  twelve  months,  has  taken  a 
new  start  in  England. 

"  The  antiquated  trammels  in  which  the  law  bound  all 
industrial  enterprises  in  favor  of  great  capitalists,  were  only 
finally  broken  through  in  1865.  In  that  year  a  short  act 
was  passed,  for  further  amending  the  law  of  partnerships,  in 
to  which  was  slipped  a  clause,  enacting  that  paying  work 
people  or  agents  by,  a  share  of  the  business,  instead  of  fixed 
wages,  should  not  constitute  such  work  people  or  agents 
partners  or  enable  them  in  any  way  to  interfere  with  the 
management  of  the  business. 

"  Immediately  after  the  passage  of  this  act,  the  firm  of 
Briggs  &  Son,  very  large  coal  owners  in  the  West  Riding 
of  Yorkshire,  converted  their  business  into  a  joint  stock  as- 
sociation, and  declared  that  their  work-people  should  be 
henceforth  entitled  to  a  share  of  all  the  profits  made  beyond 
ten  per  cent.,  which  sum  has  been  estimated  to  be  a  fair 
interest  on  capital  in  coal  mines.  This  step  was  taken  at 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Currer  Briggs,  the  eldest  son  of  Mr. 
Henry  Briggs.  The  latter  gentleman  had  incurred  a  great 
amount  of  odium  with  his  men.  He  received  letters  threaten- 
ing his  life.  He  was  denounced  in  the  men's  union,  where 
it  passed  into  a  proverb  that  '  coal  owners  were  devils,  and 
Briggs  is  the  chief  of  devils.'  In  1863,  things  had  come  to 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  225 

such  a  pass  that  he  had  to  work  under  the  protection  of  the 
county  police.  His  capital  yielded  him  and  sons  only  four 
per  cent.  He  proposed  to  sell  the  pits,  and  take  their  capi- 
tal where  they  could  get  better  interest  for  it,  without  con- 
stant quarreling.  The  son  said :  '  Let  us  try  the  plan  of 
giving  the  workmen  a  share  in  the  profits  before  giving  up.' 
The  father  and  the  other  partners  consented.  The  capital 
of  the  concern  was  divided  into  shares,  small  enough  for  the 
work  people  to  buy  with  ease.  They  were  invited  to  buy, 
and  at  the  same  time,  whether  as  shareholders  or  not,  every 
man  who  had  worked  for  a  certain  time  was  entitled  to  a 
bonus  out  of  the  surplus  profits,  after  the  ten  per  cent,  on 
the  capital  was  paid,  in  proportion  to  his  wages  earned  in 
the  mines. 

u  The  result  of  the  first  year's  working  has  been  such  a 
complete  success  as  to  almost  stagger  those,  who  for  many 
years,  advocated  such  plans  as  the  only  method  of  securing 
peace  between  employers  and  employed.  The  company 
has  actually  earned  nineteen  per  cent,  clear  profit.  These 
results  were  celebrated  at  the  town  hall,  in  Leeds,  on  the 
evening  before  the  meeting  of  the  Social  Science  Congress. 
The  colliery  hands,  nearly  1,400  strong,  came  in  two  special 
trains,  and  met  the  Briggs  family  in  the  hall. 

uThe  workmen  gave  some  silverware  to  Mr.  Currer 
Briggs,  which  was  paid  for  by  subscription.  Several  of  the 
leaders  of  the  miners,  who  had  been  the  most  bitter  oppo- 
nents of  Mr.  Briggs  in  the  old  days,  stood  upon  the  plat- 
form, and  spoke  from  their  hearts  as  to  the  blessings  which 
the  change  had  wrought  and  would  bring.  Every  man 
was  full  of  loyalty  to  the  concern,  which  he  now  felt  to  be 
his  own,  and  there  was  a  resolution  to  double  the  bonus  dur- 
ing the  coming  winter.  It  is  believed  that  the  immense 
industries  of  England  will  be  peacefully  united." 


226  THE  LABORER; 

These  plans  show  that  the  Englishman  will  some  time  or 
other  arrive  at  liberty  and  independence,  though  he  has  no 
fourth  of  July  orators  or  writers  on  liberty.  His  savings 
will  enable  him  to  go  to  some  foreign  country  where  land 
is  free.  It  is  possible,  by  virtue  and  intelligence,  for  the  toil- 
ing men  of  England  to  emancipate  themselves  and  leave  the 
merchants  and  bankers  to  wait  on  themselves,  and  cultivate 
their  newly-acquired  manor  lands. 

The  Americans  have  need  of  co-operative  stores.  Are 
not  many  of  them  the  subjects  of  severe  toil.  Why  should 
they  give  ten  dollars  for  a  clock,  when  it  costs  at  the  fac- 
tory two  dollars  and  twenty-five  cents,  and  the  carriage  to 
Ohio  is  fifty  cents.  This  was  ten  years  ago.  There  are 
women's  stuffs,  having  French  fancy  names,  made  in  Lowell 
for  twenty-two  cents  a  yard,  for  which  the  retail  buyer  pays 
sixty  cents.  It  becomes  Americans  to  use  the  learning,  they 
have  acquired  at  such  an  immense  public  cost  to  learn  the 
cost  of  the  many  articles  they  use,  and  not  be  the  victims  of 
the  thinking  merchants.  Printers,  with  their  ink  and  paper, 
will  enlighten  men  on  the  cost  of  production  of  commodi- 
ties, if  men  will  find  the  light. 

All  merchants  do  not  gain  splendid  wealth ;  some  gain 
very  bitter  poverty  in  old  age,  and  wear  thread-bare  coats, 
and  feed  their  children  on  bread  and  molasses.  This  is 
often  contrasted  with  the  house,  garden,  lawns,  and  fruit 
trees  of  a  less  gifted  person,  the  labor  of  a  carpenter  and 
farmer,  who  did  not  understand  the  mysteries  of  trade,  or 
the  art  of  keeping  books  by  single  entry.  The  two  Pres- 
ton barbers  began  to  compete  with  each  other.  The  one 
who  offered  to  shave  for  a  halfpenny  to  do  his  best  could  only 
earn  thirty  pence  a  day,  which  did  not  obtain  good  and  suf- 
ficient food.  It  often  happens  that  the  merchants  compete 
with  each  other.  One  richer  than  all  the  rest  destroys  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  227 

others.  At  one  time  a  merchant  in  Cincinnati,  supposed 
to  be  worth  a  great  deal  more  than  a  million,  had  a  neigh- 
bor merchant,  who  was  supposed  to  be  worth  less  than  a 
million.  Each  commenced  to  put  forth  arts  to  get  each 
other's  custom,  which  resulted  in  selling  at  cost  and  below 
cost.  It  was  a  strange  sight  to  see  thousands  of  people  at 
a  palace  of  trade,  waited  on  by  hundreds  of  clerks.  The 
conclusion  of  this  was  the  little  merchant  retired  broken  and 
discomfited.  The  mischief  did  not  end  here;  all  the  other 
stores  in  the  city  who  sold  dry  goods,  had  to  sell  at  prices 
that  yielded  no  profits.  A  winter  at  this  gave  no  rent,  no 
salary,  no  money  to  pay  debts,  and  caused  many  to  go  under 
the  stream  of  competition,  who,  if  brought  to  the  surface, 
will  appear  in  new  characters  as  clerks ;  when  beauty  and 
activity  is  gone,  they  become  street  merchants,  venders  of 
stockings,  shoe  laces,  papers,  apples,  and  figs. 

Many  a  one  in  early  life  has  become  a  merchant,  and 
had  visions  of  the  pleasures  of  wealth,  such  as  riding  in  a 
carriage  and  receiving  the  homage  of  men ;  it  has  ended  in 
becoming  the  sweeper  of  a  crossing,  or  the  owner  of  a  pea- 
nut stand.  Happy  are  those  who  fail  early ;  they  avoid  ca- 
lamities like  these ;  it  gives  them  time  to  plant  a  vine,  and 
enjoy  the  fruit  thereof.  It  has  been  computed  that  all  the 
merchants  fail  except  six  in  the  hundred,  which  must  be  a 
cause  of  sorrow.  Merchants  have  erected  walled  towns, 
which  have  become  to  panting,  fleeing  slaves  a  city  of  refuge 
from  a  master's  fury.  Merchants  have  done  all  the  good 
they  can ;  it  is  time  their  costly  power  was  broken 

Merchants  brought  tulips  from  Constantinople,  in  1611. 
In  Holland  these  became  a  source  of  speculation.  Chim- 
ney-sweeps, servants,  and  noblemen  went  into  a  mania  on 
buying  and  selling  tulips.  The  demand  for  them  became 
great,  they  kept  rising  in  value.  The  first  buyers  made  large 


228  THE  LABORER; 

fortunes.  The  prices  went  up  as  high  as  they  could,  and 
then  went  down.  The  last  buyers  lost  their  money.  For 
a  tulip  root  twelve  acres  of  land  was  given.  Another  gave 
a  carriage,  two  gray  horses,  and  the  harness  for  a  root.  A 
species  of  gambling  came  from  this.  A  nobleman  says  to 
a  merchant,  u  I  will  give  for  a  tulip  three  months  from  now 
1,000  florins."  At  that  time  it  was  worth  800  florins,  at 
the  time  of  delivery  tulips  were  worth  1,200  florins  [$300]. 
The  merchant  gave  the  nobleman  200  florins ;  if  the  price 
was  800  florins  the  merchant  received  200  florins.  There 
are  now  men  who  gamble  in  stocks,  it  shows  how  corrupt  is 
human  society  or  these  men  would  be  at  productive  labor, 
at  something  that  will  make  men  happier. 

Mr.  Holland,  in  his  book  called  Plain  Talks,  says:  UA 
stock  exchange  is  a  paradise  of  shirks  [men  who  don't  work], 
a  place  where  not  the  first  particle  of  wealth  was  ever  pro- 
duced or  ever  will  be  produced ;  where  great  games  of 
chance  are  played  in  a  strictly  legal  and  moral  way  ;  where 
men  combine  to  break  down  the  credit  of  worthy  associa- 
tions; conspire  to  give  a  fictitious  value  to  things  that  are 
of  no  value,  and  make  a  business  of  cheating  each  other 
and  swindling  the  world. 

"I  can  perceive  no  difference  between  the  professional 
gamblers  in  stocks,  and  any  other  professional  gamblers. 
Both  are  men  who  produce  nothing;  who  play  at  games  of 
skill  and  hazard  for  money ;  who  never  win  a  dollar  that 
does  not  leave  some  other  man  poorer.  The  commercial 
exchanges  are  points  of  attraction  for  the  shirks  of  the 
world.  They  stand  ready  to  grasp  at  some  portion  of  the 
profits  of  trade — men  who  minister  to  the  vices  of  the  rich, 
who  speculate  in  the  necessaries  of  life,  who  invent  fancy 
schemes  of  plunder,  who  eat  the  subsistence  of  needle- 
women, who  stand  at  the  counter  instead  of  plowing." 


This  boy  has  now  become  an  adopted  son,  and  has  abundant  leisure  to  destroy 
labor  he  never  created.  He  visits  a  hospital,  it  may  be  to  stifle  his  conscience, 
which  upbraids  him  for  not  assisting  those  who  sustain  him,  for  not  enduring  the 
summer's  heat  and  winter's  cold.  "Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,"  is  a  com- 
mand which  we  truly  observe  when  we  share  with  those  who  do  them — the  se- 
vere duties  of  life.  Lord  Oliphant  convinced  of  the  injustice  of  being  supported 
by  others'  labor,  left  the  pleasurers  of  his  English  home,  his  country's  honors,  and 
united  with  a  body  of  co-religionists  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Erie,  where  he  plows 
and  wears  home-spun.  If  all  will  practice  this,  hospitals  for  sick  will  be  unknown. 

5 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  229 

The  law  has  been  regarded  as  the  standard  by  which  to 
measure  all  offenses  and  irregularities,  as  affording  infor- 
mation to  the  different  members  of  community,  respecting 
the  principles  which  shall  be  adopted  in  deciding  their  ac- 
tions. One  result  of  the  institution  of  the  law  is,  that  the 
institution,  when  once  it  is  begun,  can  never  be  brought  to 
a  close.  Edict  upon  edict  is  heaped  up,  volume  to  volume 
is  added.  It  is  said  the  published  laws  of  England  are  con- 
tained in  forty  folio  volumes,  to  read  which  will  take  a  life- 
time. Every  body  in  England  is  supposed  to  know  the  law ; 
many  suffer  from  not  knowing  it.  To  many  its  stern  code 
ot  laws  is  darker  than  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics. 

"^here  is  no  maxim  more  clear  than  this,  'Every  case 
ile  in  itself.'  It  seems  to  be  the  business  of  justice  to 
distinguish  the  qualities  of  men,  and  not  confound  them. 
As  new  cases  occur,  the  law  is  perpetually  found  deficient. 
Lawyers  have  not  the  faculty  to  look  into  the  future,  and 
can  not  define  that  which  is  boundless.  Hence  lawyers 
are  continually  wresting  the  law  to  include  a  case  which 
was  never  in  contemplation  by  its  authors,  or  else  get  laws 
mau  j  to  suit  the  case.  The  quibbles  of  lawyers,  and  the 
arts  by  which  they  refine  and  distort  the  sense  of  the  law 
are  proverbial. 

"The  education  of  a  lawyer  enables  him,  when  employ- 
ed by  a  prosecutor,  to  find  out  offenses  the  lawmaker  never 
meant ;  to  discover  subterfuges  that  reduce  the  law  to  a 
nullity.  The  laws,  in  order  to  escape  evasion,  are  frequently 
tedious,  'nute,  and  circumlocutory.  The  volume  in  which 
justice  ,ords  her  prescriptions,  is  forever  increasing,  and 
the  world  will  not  contain  all  that  might  be  written. 

"  The  consequence  of  the  infinitude  of  law  is  its  uncer- 
taint  Laws  were  made  to  put  an  end  to  ambiguity,  and 

that  eacii  man  might  know  what  he  had  to  expect.      Two 
21 


230  THE  LABORER; 

v. 

men  would  not  go  to  law  unless  they  were  both  promised 
success  by  their  lawyers.  Law  was  made  for  a  plain  man 
to  understand.  Yet  lawyers  differ  about  the  results.  Does 
it  make  the  case  any  the  less  uncertain,  if  it  had  been  trusted 
to  a  jury  of  neighbors  with  the  ideas  they  entertained  of 
natural  justice?  Lawyers  absurdly  maintain  that  the  ex- 
pensiveness  of  law  prevents  the  multiplication  of  suits; 
when  the  true  source  is  the  uncertainty  of  the  law,  which 
is  a  code  none  can  master;  a  labyrinth  without  an  end ;  it  is 
a  mass  of  contradictions  that  can  not  be  disentangled.  Study 
will  enable  a  lawyer  to  find  plausible,  perhaps,  unanswer- 
able arguments  for  almost  any  side  of  any  question.  It  will 
be  the  utmost  folly  to  suppose  that  the  study  of  the  law  can 
lead  to  knowledge  and  certainty. 

u  The  task  of  the  law  is  to  describe  what  shall  be  the  ac- 
tions of  men,  and  to  dictate  discussions  respecting  them. 
Law  says  it  is  so  wise,  that  it  can  not  draw  additional  knowl- 
edge from  future  circumstances,  and  that  future  knowledge 
which  may  be  acquired  shall  have  no  effect.  Law  tends  to 
fix  the  human  mind  in  a  stagnant  condition,  and  substitute 
duration  in  the  room  of  unceasing  progress. 

"  If  a  code  of  laws  is  wrong,  a  lawyer  is  a  dishonest  man, 
a  subject  for  censure  and  regret.  Men  are  the  creatures  of 
circumstances  under  which  they  are  placed.  To  be  sur- 
rounded by  vice  is  to  be  vicious.  To  be  dealing  in  quibbles, 
false  colors,  and  sophistry  can  not  fail  to  make  lawyers  lose 
the  generous  emotions  of  the  soul,  and  the  discernment  of 
rectitude.  The  more  successful  he  is  in  quibbling  the  worse 
he  is  tainted  with  evil.  A  lawyer  may  be  full  of  sublime 
virtues,  in  time  he  becomes  inconsistent  and  accessible  to 
a  bribe. 

UA  lawyer  designs  to  plead  no  cause  that  is  unjust,  and 
use  no  arguments  that  are  not  truth,  but  strip  law  of  its  am- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  231 

biguities,  and  talk  rationally.  Still  he  is  a  pernicious  mem- 
ber of  society.  He  retards  the  progress  of  mankind,  de- 
fers the  advent  of  a  sounder  policy,  and  renders  mankind 
satisfied  with  imperfection  and  ignorance.  In  a  word,  if 
there  were  no  lawyers  men  would  plead  their  own  causes, 
and  justice  would  be  easily  attained. 

"The  law  is  wrong  in  exercising  a  jurisdiction  upon  the 
circumstances  of  the  case.  Men  are  not  wanting  whose 
ideas  of  right  and  wrong  are  as  correct  as  the  law,  and  who 
can  come  to  the  same  conclusion  as  the  learned  judge.  The 
law  is  called  the  wisdom  of  ages.  What  arrogance  !  Law 
is  a  compound  of  passion,  timidity,  jealousy,  monopoly,  and 
a  lust  of  power.  The  wisdom  of  ages  has  to  be  cor- 
rected every  year,  its  ignorance  pointed  out,  its  intolerance 
made  easy. 

"Men  having  reason  given  them,  why  should  they  not 
obey  that?  The  Creator  has  engraven  on  the  mind  a  code 
of  right  and  wrong.  The  mountains  of  parchment  to  which 
he  refers  only  impose  on  him.  They  are  the  remains  of 
superstition  and  ignorance.  Frequently  it  happens  a  piece 
of  property  has  been  willed  to  a  person ;  another  claims  it. 
It  is  put  to  the  decision  of  a  court,  and  it  is  appealed  to 
another  court.  On  the  one  side  is  cheating;  on  the  other 
anguish  and  misery,  baffled  hopes,  fruitless  years  of  expec- 
tation, which  consume  the  strength  of  men  in  lawsuits. 
Trifles  make  endless  controversies."  * 

"  I  propose  only  to  consult  the  volume  of  nature ;  I  knew, 
to  a  certain  degree,  what  was  the  task  I  undertook.  All 
the  evidence  I  collected  bore  immediately  upon  the  point 
under  consideration.  But  now  the  principal  point  becomes 
involved  with  innumerable  subordinate  ones.  I  have  no 
longer  merely  to  be  satisfied,  by  a  long  compendious  course, 

*This  language  is  taken  from  Wm    Godwin's  "Political  Justice." 


232  THE  LABORER; 

to  arrive  at  that  which  is  right.  With  laws  I  am  concerned 
with  the  construction  of  phrases,  the  removing  of  what  is 
doubtful,  the  reconciling  of  contradictions,  the  ascertaining 
of  the  mind  of  the  composer  ;  and  for  this  purpose  the  con- 
sulting of  history,  the  ascertaining  of  the  occasions  of  the 
institutions,  and  even  the  collecting,  as  far  as  possible,  every 
anecdote  that  relates  to  their  origin.  I  am  concerned  with 
commentators  as  much  as  I  am  with  the  text,  not  merely 
to  assist  my  own  deductions,  but  because  they  have  a  cer- 
tain authority  fettering  and  enchaining  my  deductions.  I 
sought  it  may  be  repose  for  my  indolence ;  but  I  have  found 
an  eternal  labor.  I  have  exchanged  a  task  comparatively 
easy  for  difficulties  unconquerable  and  endless. 

"  Such  is  the  mode  in  which  a  lawyer  forms  his  creed. 
It  is  necessarily  captious  and  technically  pregnant  with 
petty  subtilties  and  unmeaning  distinctions.  But  the  evil 
does  not  stop  here.  It  would  be  a  mistake,  peculiarly  glar- 
ing and  gross,  to  suppose  that  a  lawyer  studies  the  law  prin- 
cipally that  he  may  understand  it.  No,  his  great  object  is 
to  puzzle  and  perplex.  His  attention  is  given  to  the  inquiry 
how  he  may  distort  the  law  to  suit  the  cause  in  which  he 
is  engaged.  This  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  one  man 
being  hired  to  tell  another  man's  story.  The  principal, 
however,  erroneous  he  may  be,  is  expected  to  express 
himself  in  good  faith.  The  agent  is  careless  himself  about 
the  merits  of  the  cause.  He  is  indifferent  whether  his  client 
is  right  or  wrong.  He  will  plead  for  the  plaintiff  to  day, 
and  the  opposite  side  to  morrow.  He  stands  up  before  a 
judge  and  jury,  on  the  most  important  questions,  upon 
which  are  the  peace,  the  lives,  and  the  liberties  of  familes. 
If  he  has  an  honest  tale  to  tell,  it  is  well.  But  if  he  has  the 
weaker  side,  he  undertakes  by  a  solemm  argument  to  mis- 
lead, if  he  is  able  the  court  and  the  jury.  He  justifies  him- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  233 

self  thus;  if  men  are  to  have  their  causes  plead  by  others, 
the  greatest  delinquent  is  entitled  to  the  same  privilege.  To 
reject  his  application  would  be  to  prejudice  his  cause. 

"Law,  we  are  told,  is  that  by  which  one  man  is  secured 
against  the  passion  and  injustice  of  the  other.  It  is  an  in- 
flexible and  impartial  principle,  holding  out  one  standard 
of  right  and  wrong  to  all  mankind.  It  has  been  devised 
by  the  wisdom  of  sages,  in  the  tranquillity  of  the  closet,  not 
to  accommodate  particular  interests,  but  to  provide  for  the 
welfare  of  the  whole.  Its  view  is  sublime  and  universal. 
It  can  not  be  warped  to  suit  temporary  and  personal  ob- 
jects of  men. 

"It  teaches  every  man  what  he  has  to  depend  on,  not 
suffering  himself  to  be  condemned  at  the  caprices  of  his 
judges,  but  by  maxims  already  promulgated  and  made 
known  to  all.  It  gives  a  fair  warning  to  one  party  of  the 
punishment  which  a  certain  conduct  will  incur.  It  affords 
also  the  other  party  a  remedy  against  the  usurpation  of  his 
neighbor. 

"If  law  be,  to  this  eminent  extent,  the  benefactor  and 
preserver  of  mankind,  must  it  not  reflect  some  of  its  own 
luster  upon  its  professors?  What  character  can  be  more 
venerable  than  an  expounder  of  the  law,  whether  we  apply 
this  to  the  judge,  who  authoritatively  declares  its  meaning 
from  the  bench  ;  to  the  pleader,  who  takes  care  to  do  justice 
to  himself,  or  to  the  less  brilliant,  but  not  less  useful  func- 
tions of  him  who,  from  his  chamber,  communicates  the  re- 
sults of  the  researches  of  years  to  the  client,  who  would 
otherwise  be  unable  to  find  his  way  amidst  the  complexities 
of  statutes,  glosses,  and  precedents  ? 

"We  will  not  inquire  into  the  soundness  of  this  panegyric, 
which  has  been  so  often  produced  on  the  institutions  of  the 
law.  All  that  our  present  subject  requires  of  us  is  to  as- 


234  THE  LABORER; 

certain  what  sort  of  character  is  the  study  of  the  law  likely 
to  entail  on  its  professors.  The  business  of  a  man  is  to  in- 
quire into  the  dictates  of  reason  and  the  principles  of  justice. 
The  business  of  a  lawyer  is  of  a  very  different  character; 
he  has  nothing  to  do  with  generous  and  impartial  reason ; 
his  concern  is  with  edicts  and  acts  of  parliaments.  He  is 
to  consider  these  as  the  standards  of  right  and  wrong.  He 
must  expel  from  his  mind  all  notions  of  independent  inves- 
tigation, or  he  must  submit  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
that  to  be  right,  because  it  is  conformable  to  law,  which  he 
knows  to  be  wrong  and  irreconcilable  to  justice. 

"This  is  too  plain  to  need  any  profound  elucidation,  that 
laws,  in  their  great  outline,  are  the  prejudices  of  a  barbarous 
age,  artificially  kept  alive  and  entailed  upon  a  civilized  one. 
Laws  that  are  of  long  standing  derive  their  character  from 
principles  and  systems  that  are  exploded  and  out  of  use. 
Such  of  them  as  are  of  recent  date  have  often  originated  in 
temporary  objects,  in  anti-social  passions,  in  the  intemper- 
ate desires  of  giving  strength  to  monopolies,  and  firmness  to 
the  usurpations  of  the  few  over  the  many.  From  this  het- 
erogeneous mass  the  lawyer  extracts  his  rules,  which  he 
thinks  is  for  the  good  of  men.  Nothing  is  more  usual 
among  persons  of  this  profession,  than  to  see  them  express 
their  sensation  by  a  look  of  contempt  and  astonishment  if 
men  doubt  the  infallibility  of  the  law,  or  question  the  truth 
of  its  decisions. 

"The  human  mind  is  to  bring  every  principle  of  ethics 
within  the  scope  of  its  own  examination  ;  to  derive  assistance 
from  every  means  of  information,  oral  or  sciptory ;  but  to 
admit  nothing  on  authority  that  supersedes  reason.  If  I 
would  estimate  the  means  of  human  happiness  ;  if  I  would 
judge  truly  of  the  conduct  of  my  neighbor,  or  know  rightly 
how  to  fashion  my  own,  I  must  inquire  deeply,  not  super- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  235 

ficially,  I  must  enter  into  the  principles  of  things,  and  not 
suffer  conclusions  to  steal  on  me  unawares,  I  must  proceed 
step  by  step ;  and  then  there  will  be  some  chance  that  the 
notions  I  form  will  be  found  harmonious  with  each  other. 
But  when,  instead  of  adopting  my  opinions  with  this  degree 
of  caution  and  deliberation,  I  am  induced  to  admit,  at  a 
single  stroke,  whole  volumes  of  propositions  as  unapproach- 
able and  decisive,  I  resign  the  most  beneficient  prerogative 
of  the  human  understanding."* 

Mr.  Maxwell  says:  "In  every  school  district,  in  Nor- 
way, is  a  Court  of  Reconciliation.  Every  law-suit  is 
brought  before  the  justice  in  person ;  no  lawyer  is  allowed 
in  this  court.  The  parties  state  their  complaints,  and  the 
justice  notes  the  facts  of  both  sides,  considers  and  arranges 
the  matter,  and  proposes  what  is  fair  in  the  case.  If  ac- 
cepted, it  is  entered  in  a  Court  of  Record.  If  appealed,  it 
goes  to  the  district  court.  The  writings  of  the  justice  are 
taken  as  evidence,  and  none  other.  If  the  justice  was  right, 
the  party  appealing  pays  the  cost  of  appeal.  This  system 
of  minor  courts  prevents  unnecessary  litigation.  The  case 
can  go  to  another  court,  on  the  same  evidence,  without  any 
trick  or  circumlocution  from  either  party.  There  is  no 
chance  for  pettifoggers,  the  banditti  of  the  bar.  No  de- 
luding of  the  clients,  or  mystifying  the  judge  or  jury  by 
sharp  practice.  Two-thirds  of  the  suits  are  settled  in  this 
court.  Of  the  remainder,  not  more  than  one-tenth  are  ever 
carried  up.  The  judges  are  responsible  for  errors  of  judg- 
ment, delay,  ignorance,  carelessness,  or  prejudice.  They 
may  be  summoned  and  tried  in  a  superior  court,  and,  if  con- 
victed, are  liable  for  damage  to  the  injured  party.  The 
lawyers  of  Norway  have  integrity  and  learning." 

*  The  reader  is  kindly  referred  to  Wm.  Godwin's  "  Enquirer  "  and  "  Political 
Justice"  for  a  continuation  of  this  subiect,  from  which  this  is  abbreviated. 


236  THE  LABORER; 

There  exists  in  large  cities  in  England  courts  of  recon- 
ciliation, where  three  magistrates  persuade  men  to  be  re- 
conciled with  as  little  cost  as  possible.  This  is  a  conse- 
quence of  being  ruled  by  a  king,  who  promotes  economy, 
so  as  to  have  a  greater  share  of  the  plunder.  Where  the 
people  are  all  sovereigns,  they  plunder  each  other. 

Blackstone  says:  "Laws  are  to  prevent  what  is  wrong, 
and  promote  what  is  right."  This  language  is  sublime  if  it 
be  the  truth ;  it  seems  not  to  be  so.  To  prove  this,  take 
two  examples;  the  year  1857  was  one  °f  universal  bank- 
ruptcy made  so  by  paper-money  makers.  This  caused  the 
writer  unwillingly  to  have  some  leisure  to  observe  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice.  In  the  court  at  Schenectady  was 
tried  a  man  for  going  into  the  woods  of  his  neighbor,  on 
Saturday  afternoon,  at  five  o'clock,  and  taking  a  quarter  of  a 
cord  of  wood.  On  Sunday,  the  man  who  took  the  wood 
paid  a  friendly  visit  to  the  owner  of  it ;  the  owner  of  which, 
the  next  day,  found  out  his  loss,  and  told  his  neighbor  to 
bring  the  wood  back  again,  who  then  offered  a  dollar  and  a 
quarter  for  it,  which  the  owner  refused  to  take,  and  in  a 
spirit  of  revenge  had  his  neighbor  charged  with  stealing. 
The  witnesses  testified  that  these  two  men  were  friendly, 
they  exchanged  labor  with  each  other,  and  borrowed  each 
other's  tools.  To  try  this  cause  required  twelve  jurymen, 
two  advocates,  three  judges,  two  constables,  a  sheriff,  and 
a  fire-maker.  The  jury  could  not  agree,  and  call  the 
fault  stealing. 

The  court,  the  next  day,  tried  a  man  for  getting  into  a 
sleigh,  and  driving  the  horse  seventeen  miles.  This  man  was 
drunk;  and  when  his  reason  returned,  he  told  his  brother 
what  he  had  done,  who  returned  with  the  sleigh  and  offered 
the  owner  six  dollars  to  be  reconciled,  which  he  would  not 
take  ;  he  must  have  the  man  prosecuted  for  stealing.  The 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  237 

same  number  of  men  were  employed  in  trying  this  cause. 
The  jury  could  not  agree,  and  call  this  horse  stealing.  The 
two  trials  took  each  a  day,  and  cost  the  county  $150.  Is 
not  this  a  robbery  on  the  people?  It  is  time  it  were  ended  ! 

The  writer,  with  four  others,  made  for  two  employers  a 
set  of  wood  patterns  for  a  hot  air-furnace.  These  were  to 
be  made  in  a  month.  The  person  who  had  the  work  done 
was  taken  with  the  cholera,  which  prevented  him  from 
overseeing  us.  When  he  saw  the  work,  some  part  of  it  had 
to  be  changed.  The  man  for  whom  the  work  was  done  ex- 
amined it  well,  and  took  it  away.  The  makers  asked  for 
§150,  their  due,  a  part  of  which  was  for  making  the  changes. 
The  man  refused  to  pay,  and  the  debt  was  taken  to  a  ma- 
gistrate. The  defendant  had  for  a  witness  his  foreman,  who 
said  the%work  was  bad.  A  rival  pattern-maker,  having  feel- 
ings of  animosity,  said,  "  I  have  made  changes  on  the  work, 
and  it  is  not  workman-like."  The  judge  could  not  decide. 
Had  a  pattern-maker  been  chosen  a  judge,  each  plead  his 
own  cause,  each  witness  told  his  tale,  the  result  would  have 
been,  the  two  contractors  would  have  got  some  pay.  No 
cheating  with  such  a  judge.  The  work  could  not  have 
been  done  any  better.  The  Anglo-Saxons  had  their  dis- 
putes decided  by  the  witnesses.  Have  we  improved  ? 

Dean  Swift,  in  his  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  which  he  wrote 
to  satirize  the  follies  of  mankind,  in  a  conversation  with  the 
people  he  visited,  speaks  of  lawyers  thus  :  "  There  was  a  so- 
ciety among  us,  bred  up  from  their  youth  in  the  art  of  prov- 
ing, by  words  multiplied  for  that  purpose,  that  white  is  black, 
and  black  is  white,  according  as  they  are  paid.  To  this 
society  all  the  rest  of  the  people  are  slaves.  For  example,  if 
my  neighbor  has  a  mind  to  my  cow,  he  has  a  lawyer  to  prove 
that  he  ought  to  have  it  from  me ;  I  must  then  hire  another 
to  defend  rny  rights,  it  being  against  the  rules  of  the  law 


238  THE  LABORER; 

that  any  man  shall  speak  for  himself.  Now,  in  this  case,  I 
who  am  the  rightful  owner,  lie  under  two  great  disadvan- 
tages: first,  my  lawyer,  being  practiced  almost  from  his  cradle 
in  defending  falsehood,  is  quite  out  of  his  element  when  he 
would  be  an  advocate  for  justice,  which  is  an  unnatural  of- 
fice he  attempts  with  awkwardness,  if  not  with  ill  will.  A 
second  disadvantage  is,  that  my  lawyer  must  proceed  with 
great  caution,  or  else  he  will  be  reprimanded  by  the  judges, 
and  abhorred  by  his  brethren  as  one  that  would  lessen  the 
practice  of  the  law.  I  have  but  two  methods  to  preserve 
my  cow.  The  first  is  to  gain  over  my  adversary's  lawyer  by 
a  double  fee,  who  will  betray  his  client  by  insinuating  that  he 
has  justice  on  his  side.  The  second  way  is  for  my  lawyer 
to  make  my  cause  appear  as  unjust  as  he  can,  by  allowing 
the  cow  to  belong  to  my  adversary  ;  and  this  if  skillfully 
done,  will  certainly  bespeak  the  favor  of  the  bench. 

"  These  judges  are  persons  appointed  to  decide  all  contro- 
versies of  property,  as  well  as  the  trials  of  criminals,  and 
are  picked  out  from  the  most  dextrous  of  lawyers,  who  have 
grown  old  or  lazy,  and  have  been  biased  against  truth  and 
equity,  and  lie  under  such  a  fatal  necessity  of  favoring  op- 
pression, fraud,  and  perjury,  that  I  have  known  some  of 
them  refuse  a  large  bribe  from  the  side  where  justice  lay, 
rather  than  injure  the  faculty  by  doing  any  thing  unbecom- 
ing their  office.  It  is  a  maxim  among  lawyers,  whatever 
has  been  done  before  may  be  done  legally  again  j  and  there- 
fore they  take  special  care  to  record  all  the  decisions  former- 
ly made  against  common  justice,  and  the  general  reason  of 
mankind.  These,  under  the  name  of  precedents,  they  pro- 
duce as  authorities  to  justify  the  most  iniquitous  opinions, 
and  the  judges  never  fail  of  directing  accordingly.  In  plead- 
ing, they  studiously  avoid  entering  into  the  merits  of  the 
cause ;  but  are  loud,  violent,  and  tedious  in  dwelling  on  all 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  239 

circumstances  which  are  not  to  the  purpose.  For  instance, 
in  the  case  already  mentioned,  they  never  desire  to  know 
what  title  or  claim  my  adversary  has  to  my  cow ;  but 
whether  the  said  cow  was  red  or  black ;  her  horns  long  or 
short ;  whether  the  field  I  graze  her  in  be  round  or  square ; 
whether  she  is  milked  at  home  or  abroad  ;  what  diseases  she 
is  subjected  to,  after  which  they  consult  precedents,  ad- 
journ the  cause  from  time  to  time,  and  in  ten,  twenty,  or 
thirty  years,  come  to  an  issue. 

"It  is  likewise  to  be  observed  that  this  society  has  a  pe- 
culiar cant  or  jargon  of  its  own  that  no  other  mortal  can 
understand,  and  wherein  all  their  laws  are  written,  which 
they  take  care  to  multiply — whereby  they  have  wholly  con- 
founded the  very  essence  of  truth  and  falsehood,  of  right 
and  wrong — so  that  it  will  take  thirty  years  to  decide  if  the 
field,  left  me  by  my  ancestors  for  six  generations,  belong  to 
me  or  to  a  stranger  three  hundred  miles  off. 

"In  the  trial  of  persons  accused  of  crime  against  the  State, 
the  method  is  much  more  short  and  commendable ;  the  first 
judge  sends  to  sound  the  disposition  of  those  in  power, 
after  which  he  can  easily  save  or  hang  a  criminal,  strictly 
preserving  all  due  forms  of  law. 

uHere  the  listener  interposed  and  said  :  *  It  is  a  pity  that 
creatures,  endowed  with  such  prodigious  abilities  of  mind,  as 
these  lawyers  must  certainly  be,  and  were  they  not  rather 
encouraged  to  be  the  instructors  of  others  in  wisdom  and 
knowledge.'  In  answer  to  which  I  assured  him,  that  in 
all  points  out  of  their  own  trade,  they  were  usually  the 
most  stupid,  ignorant  generation  among  us,  the  most  des- 
picable in  common  conversation,  avowed  enemies  to  all 
knowledge  and  learning,  and  equally  disposed  to  pervert  the 
general  reason  of  mankind  in  every  other  discourse  as  in 
that  of  their  own  profession." 


240  THE  LABORER; 

This  description  may  be  distorted  and  extreme.  It  can 
not  be  denied  that  the  lawyer  does  mischief.  With  what 
eagerness  did  one  try  to  .prove  my  employers  were  not  en- 
titled to  the  balance  due  on  the  patterns.  Each  of  us  had 
sixty  dollars  for  our  month's  work,  which  was  obtained  from 
the  defendant  in  advance.  The  employers  had  nothing  for 
their  rent,  lumber,  skill,  and  time.  We  had  in  the  shop  the 
patterns  of  a  furnace  to  guide  us,  made  by  the  rival  witness. 
I  saw  his  work  was  nailed  together  and  broken.  I  dove- 
tailed together  what  I  did,  so  that  it  could  not  break.  Dove- 
tailing was  done  where  it  could  be.  It  was  afterward  ascer- 
tained the  rival  witness  made  changes  on  the  patterns  to  the 
amount  of  twelve  dollars. 

Jefferson  said :  " A  court  of  justice  was  an  old  English 
aristocratic  institution,  and  a  natural  enemy  to  the  common 
people."  The  census  book  says  we  have  "  33,980  lawyers, 
123,378  merchants,  184,485  clerks."  It  would  be  a  good 
plan  to  set  the  lawyers  and  nine-tenths  of  the  merchants  at 
something  else.  These  have  abilities  to  clothe  and  feed  as 
many  as  10,000,000  of  people. 

Dean  Swift  said :  "  He  who  made  two  grains  of  corn,  two 
blades  of  grass  grow  where  one  grew  before,  would  deserve 
well  of  mankind,  and  do  more  service  than  the  whole  race 
of  politicians.  In  England  is  produced  three  times  more 
food  than  the  people  consume.  The  greater  part  goes  to 
foreign  countries.  In  return  we  obtain  diseases,  vices,  and 
follies.  The  rich  men  enjoy  the  poor  man's  labor,  who  lives 
miserably  on  small  wages  that  they  may  live  plentifully." 


CHAPTER  XI. 

PHYSICIANS    AND    MINISTERS. 

JOHN  WESLEY'S  REMEDIES  FOR  SICKNESS — THE  OPINIONS  OF  THE  DEMOCRATIC 
REVIEW — JEFFERSON — PRIESSNITZ — BULWER — HAVELOCK — VOLNEY — THE 
EARLY  CHRISTIANS — ST.  CHRYSOSTOM — TERTULLIAN — THE  MORAVIANS. 

"Medicine  is  the  destructive  art  of  healing  diseases." — LORD  BYRON. 
"Early  piety,  if  persisted  in,  prepares  for  a  good  old  age." — J.  A.  JAMES. 

|OHN  WESLEY  believed  that  every  disease  under 
the  sun  could  be  tured  with  cold  water,  herbs,  and 
the  juices  of  fruits.  He  cared  for  the  bodies  of  men 
as  well  as  their  souls.  He  gave  to  his  humble  followers  and 
to  the  world  a  book,  containing  450  pages  [i2mo  Pica], 
called  "Primitive  Physic,  or  a  Natural  Method  of  Curing 
Diseases."  This  book  enumerates  290  diseases,  and  gives 
925  remedies.  Dr.  Abernethy  tells  us  the  older  a  medical 
practitioner  gets  the  fewer  medicines  he  uses.  He  tells  us 
of  an  apothecary  who  took  a  room  in  London,  and  from  six 
black  bottles  he  compounded  and  dispensed  medicines  for 
the  poor,  from  whom  he  made  an  enormous  fortune.  A 
prescription  in  the  time  of  James  I  was  a  very  long  list  of 
strange  incongruous  substances,  under  the  name  of  boluses 
and  doses,  which,  when  compared  with  the  few  and  simple 
drugs  the  physician  uses  now,  gives  hope  that  future  gener- 
ations in  a  century  or  two,  will  use  no  medicines  at  all. 

It  is  some  consolation  to  know  that  the  formidable  array 
of  cures  and  receipts  given  us  by  Mr.  Wesley,  have  been,  by 

(241) 


242  THE  LABORER; 


modern  innovators  reduced  to  six,  the  juices  of  fruits,  one 
internal  and  four  different  outside  applications  of  water.  In 
his  book  he  says :  "  It  is  probable  physic,  as  well  as  religion, 
was,  in  the  first  ages  'of  the  world  chiefly  traditional — 
every  father  delivering  to  his  sons  what  he  had  received 
concerning  the  manner  of  healing  hurts,  the  diseases  of  cli- 
mate and  season,  and  the  medicines  of  the  greatest  efficacy. 
This  is  the  method  of  preserving  the  healing  art  among  the 
Americans  [written  in  1747]  to  this  day.  Their  diseases 
are  few  and  do  not  often  occur,  by  reason  of  continual  ex- 
ertion and  temperance.  If  any  are  sick  or  torn  by  a  wild 
beast,  the  fathers  tell  what  remedies  to  apply.  It  is  seldom 
the  patient  suffers  long — these  medicines  being  quick  as  well 
as  generally  infallible. 

"Has  not  the  Author  of  Nature  taught  us  many  medi- 
cines by  accident?  Thus,  one  was  walking  in  a  pine  grove, 
at  a  time  when  many  were  afflicted  with  sores  in  the  mouth. 
A  drop  of  gum  fell  from  one  of  the  trees  on  the  book  he 
was  reading ;  this  he  applied  to  one  of  the  sore  places.  Find- 
ing the  pain  ceased,  he  applied  it  to  another  place,  which  it 
healed.  Numberless  remedies  have  thus  been  casually  dis- 
covered in  every  age  and  nation. 

"  Physic  was  wholly  founded  on  experiment.  The  Eu- 
ropean, as  well  as  the  American,  said  to  his  neighbor,  "Are 
you  sick?  Drink  the  juice  of  this  herb,  and  your  sickness 
will  be  at  an  end.  Are  you  in  a  burning  heat?  Leap  into 
that  river  and  sweat  till  you  are  well.  Thus  ancient  men, 
having  a  little  experience,  joined  with  common  sense,  and 
common  humanity,  cured  both  themselves  and  their  neigh- 
bors of  most  of  their  distempers. 

"  In  process  of  time,  men  of  a  philosophical  turn  were 
not  satisfied  with  this.  They  began  to  inquire  how  they 
might  account  for  these  things.  How  such  medicines 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  243 

wrought  such  effects  ?  They  examined  the  human  body  in 
all  its  parts;  the  nature  of  the  flesh,  veins,  arteries,  nerves; 
the  structure  of  the  brain,  heart,  lungs,  stomach,  and  bow- 
els They  explored  the  several  kinds  of  mineral  and  vege- 
table substances.  Hence  the  whole  order  of  physic.  Men 
of  learning  began  to  set  experience  aside;  to  build  physic 
from  hypothesis ;  to  form  theories  of  diseases  and  their  cure, 
and  to  substitute  these  in  place  of  experiments. 

"As  theories  increased,  simple  medicines  were  disused; 
in  the  course  of  years,  the  greater  part  were  forgotten.  In 
room  of  these,  abundance  of  new  ones  were  introduced  by 
speculative  men,  and  these  more  difficult  to  be  applied,  as 
being  more  remote  from  common  observation.  Hence  rules 
for  the  application  of  these.  Medical  books  were  multi- 
plied, till  at  length  physic  became  an  obtuse  science,  quite 
out  of  the  reach  of  .ordinary  men. 

"Physicians  now  began  to  be  held  in  admiration,  as  per- 
sons who  were  something  more  than  human,  and  profit  at- 
tended their  employment  as  well  as  honor;  so  that  they  had 
now  two  weighty  reasons  for  keeping  the  bulk  of  mankind 
at  a  distance,  that  they  might  not  pry  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  profession.  To  this  end  they  increased  their  difficul- 
ties by  design.  They  have  filled  their  writings  with  terms 
unintelligible  to  plain  men.  They  affected  to  deliver  their 
rules,  and  to  reason  on  them  in  an  obtuse  and  affected 
manner.  These  introduced  into  practice  compound  medi- 
cines, containing  so  many  ingredients  that  it  was  scarce  pos- 
sible for  a  common  person  to  know  which  wrought  the  cure. 
They  used  exotics  not  understood,  chemicals  that  can  only 
be  used  with  the  advice  of  the  physician.  Thus  honor  and 
gain  were  secured — a  vast  majority  of  mankind  being  cut  off 
from  helping  themselves  or  their  neighbors,  or  once  daring 
to  attempt  it. 


244  THE  LABORER; 

"There  have  not  been  wanting  lovers  of  mankind  who 
have  endeavored  to  reduce  physic  to  its  ancient  standard, 
to  explode  all  hypotheses  and  fine-spun  theories,  to  make  it 
intelligible  as  it  was,  having  no  mystery  in  it,  so  that  every 
man  of  common  sense  may  prescribe  to  himself  and  neigh- 
bor. A  mean  hand  has  here  made  some  little  attempt  to- 
ward a  plain  and  easy  way  of  curing  diseases.  I  have  con- 
sulted common  sense,  experience,  and  the  interests  of  man- 
kind. Is  it  not  needful,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  rescue 
men  from  destruction,  from  wasting  their  fortunes,  from 
sickness  and  pain,  from  throwing  away  their  lives,  health, 
time,  and  substance. 

"The  method  of  compounding  medicines  can  never  be 
reconciled  with  common  sense.  Experience  shows  that 
one  thing  will  cure  most  disorders  as  well  as  twenty.  Then 
why  add  the  other  nineteen  to  swell  the  apothecary's  bill. 
Nay,  possibly,  on  purpose  to  prolong  the  distemper,  that 
the  doctor  and  he  may  divide  the  spoil."  * 

These  are  a  few  of  Mr. Wesley's  remedies,  some  of  which 
he  tried  on  himself  successfully  : 

•For  an  ague. — Go  into  the  cold  water  bath  before  the 
cold  fit.  Never  bathe  on  a  full  stomach.  Go  to  bed  and 
sweat  after  the  bath, 

Asthma. — Take  a  pint  of  cold  water  every  night  when 
you  lie  down.  Vomit  by  taking  a  quart  of  warm  water. 
The  more  you  drink  the  better. 

Hooping- Cough. — Use  the  cold  water  bath  daily. 

Cholera  Morbus,  or  flux  and  vomiting — Drink  two  or  three 
quarts  of  cold  water,  or  a  drink  of  vinegar  and  water. 

A  Cold. — Drink  a  pint  of  cold  water,  or  add  a  spoonful 
of  molasses.  Tried. 

A  Colic. — Drink  a  pint  of  cold  water.     Tried. 

*  Sentences  here  and  there  are  taken  from  Mr.W's  book  j  the  words  are  his. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  245 

An  Inveterate  Cough. — Wash  the  head  in  cold  water  every 
morning,  or  use  the  cold  bath. 

The  Dropsy. — Use  the  cold  bath  daily  after  purging. 

A  Fever. — Drink  a  quart  of  cold  water  in  the  beginning 
of  any  fever.  It  is  safe  and  sure.  Lie  down  when  taken. 

Weak  Eyes. — Wash  the  head  daily  with  cold  water. 

The  Measles. — Drink  only  thin  water  gruel,  or  milk  and 
water,  or  toast  and  water. 

The  Rheumatism. — Use  the  cold  water  bath  with  rubbing 
and  sweating. 

A  Sprain. — Hold  the  part  two  hours  in  very  cold  water. 

The  Scurvy. — Live  on  turnips  for  a  month,  or  an  entire 
milk  diet  for  six  months,  or  lemon  juice  and  sugar. 

A  Sore  Throat. — Take  a  pint  of  cold  water  and  lie  down. 

For  Worms. — Use  the  juice  of  lemons. 

A  Flux. — Use  the  cold  bath  daily,  and  drink  water  from 
the  spring  largely,  taking  nothing  else  till  it  stops. 

Consumption  has  been  cured  by  cold  bath.  A  consump- 
tive man  was  advised  to  drink  water  gruel  without  sugar  or 
salt.  In  three  weeks  he  was  well.  Use  as  a  drink  cold  water 
and  new  milk.  To  each  quart  add  two  ounces  of  sugar. 

A  middle-aged  man  drank  five  quarts  of  cider  every  day, 
and  was  cured  of  a  dropsy,  supposed  to  be  incurable,  in  a 
few  weeks.  A  farmer,  aged  seventy,  was  given  over  to  die. 
Being  desperate,  he  drank  three  quarts  of  cold  water  every 
twenty-four  hours.  His  whole  food  was  sea  biscuit.  For 
sixteen  days  he  seemed  worse;  then  he  had  watery  dis- 
charges for  a  week,  and  was  soon  well. 

The  Gravel. — Eat  abundantly  of  spinage,  or  drink  largely 
of  warm  water  sweetened  with  honey,  or  peach-leaf  tea,  or 
infuse  an  ounce  of  wild  parsley  seeds  in  a  pint  of  white  wine, 
for  twelve  days.  Drink  a  glass  of  it,  fasting  daily,  for  three 
months.  To  prevent  its  return,  breakfast  on  agrimony  tea. 


246  THE  LABORER; 

It  cured  me  [Mr.  Wesley]  twenty  years  ago,  nor  have  I 
had  the  least  symptom  of  it  since. 

Mr.  Wesley  says:  "A  prejudice  prevails,  that  fruits  are 
noxious  in  a  dysentery.  Whereas,  ripe  fruits,  of  whatever 
species,  especially  summer  fruits,  are  the  real  preservatives 
from  it.  They  thin  down  the  thick  bile.  Ripe  fruits  are 
the  true  solvents  of  it.  They  may  bring  on  purging,  but 
such  as  guard  against  dysentery. 

"  We  had  an  extraordinary  abundance  of  fruit,  in  1759, 
and  in  1760,  and  scarcely  any  dysenteries.  Whenever  dys- 
enteries prevail,  I  eat  less  meat  and  more  fruit ;  and  sev- 
eral physicians  adopted  this  caution  with  the  same  success. 
I  have  seen  eleven  patients  in  one  house  with  the  dysentery, 
of  whom  nine  ate  fruit  and  recovered.  The  grandmother 
managed  a  child  her  own  way,  with  burnt  wine  and  spices, 
but  no  fruit.  She  conducted  herself  in  the  very  same  man- 
ner, and  both  died. 

u  In  a  country  seat  near  Berne,  in  1751,  the  flux  made 
great  havoc,  and  the  people  were  warned  against  the  use  of 
fruits.  Ten  out  of  eleven  persons  ate  plentifully  of  plums, 
and  not  one  of  them  was  seized  with  it.  The  poor  coach- 
man alone  rigidly  observed  that  abstinence,  and  took  a  ter- 
rible dysentery. 

"This  distemper  had  nearly  destroyed  a  Swiss  regiment, 
in  a  garrison,  in  the  south  of  France ;  the  captains  then 
purchased  a  vineyard,  where  they  carried  the  sick  soldiers, 
and  gathered  grapes  for  them.  After  this  not  one  died,  nor 
were  any  more  attacked  with  the  dysentery.* 

*  In  1866,  the  cholera  prevailed  in  Cincinnati.  Said  a  shop-mate  to  the 
writer,  "I  am  sick,  I  will  go  home."  He  had  the  cholera  j  his  mistaken 
friends  gave  him  brandy  and  pepper.  I  prepared  him,  aided  by  another,  for  his 
coffin.  Around  my  home  three  died  with  this  disease.  I  had  the  diarrhea 
come  on  me,  I  took  two  lemons  and  a  bunch  of  grapes.  I  have  not  much 
faith  in  the  physician's  skill.  I  had  once  a  diarrhea  when  many  were  dying 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  247 

"A  clergyman  was  seized  with  a  dysentery,  which  was 
not  mitigated  in  the  least  by  any  medicines  he  had  taken. 
By  mere  chance  he  saw  some  red  currants.  He  took  a  fancy 
to  them,  and  eat  three  pounds  in  two  hours  in  the  morning. 
He  became  better  that  very  day,  and  the  next  day  was  en- 
tirely well.'* 

"In  modern  times  it  is  the  fortune  of  an  unlettered  peas- 
ant to  work  marvels  in  the  healing  art,  and  to  deprive  it  of  its 
air  of  mystery.  The  name  of  Priessnitz  belongs  to  history. 
He  is  remembered  by  those  whom  he  has  restored  to  health, 
and  taught  to  avoid  suffering  by  his  water-cure.  He  has 
been  the  means  of  working  out  a  great  change  in  the  pre- 
venting and  the  curing  of  diseases.  Future  generations 
will  bless  the  peasant  philosopher  for  his  untiring  labors. 
His  birthplace  was  on  the  mountains  of  Grafenberg,  in 
Silesia,  in  Austria.  At  twenty  he  managed  a  small  farm, 
and  was  capable  of  great  exertion.  During  the  latter  part 
of  his  life  his  drink  was  water.  Most  of  his  reflections  and 
observations  are  directed  by  common  sense. 

"The  first  idea  he  had  of  the  healing  power  of  water  was 
from  a  man  in  some  iron-works,  who  used  it  for  burns  and 
injuries.  He  began  to  reflect  on  health  and  disease.  He 
noticed  that  the  ruddy-faced  and  bare-footed  plowman  did 
not  complain  of  head  or  stomach  aches,  and  he  was  unac- 

with  this  disease.  I  invited  a  physician  to  heal  me.  He  gave  me  "  blue-mass," 
which,  he  said,  made  me  worse.  He  paid  me  eight  visits,  and  gave  me  many 
medicines.  Then  he  left  me,  saying,  "I  must  take  laudanum."  Another  doctor 
gave  me  twenty  doses  of  rhubarb  and  morphine.  I  was  as  weak  as  a  child. 
The  thought  came  into  my  mind,  if  I  would  live  like  a  child  I  should  get  up 
again.  I  made  a  vow  I  would  throw  the  medicines  away,  and  live  a  week  on 
milk.  I  was,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  able  to  work.  Another  time  I  was  a 
great  sufferer  from  this  very  painful  complaint,  and  I  cured  it  by  drinking 
daily  a  quart  of  cider.  I  was  well  in  a  week.  The  idea  was  obtained  by 
reading  a  newspaper.  The  theory  of  this  disease  is — the  digestive  organs  need 
repairs.  The  juices  of  fruits  help  wonderfully. 


248  THE  LABORER; 

quainted  with  anxiety  or  the  blues;  and  that  after  being 
wet  for  hours,  he  did  not  take  cold  or  shiver.  He  also 
observed  those  who  had  gone  through  the  dissipations  of 
Vienna,  or  who  had  passed  a  studious  life  in  warm  rooms. 
He  also  observed  the  dairy-maid,  the  seamstress,  and  the 
fine  lady,  who  seldom  walked.  From  these  contrasts  he 
formed  his  notions  of  health,  life,  and  disease.  He  began 
practicing  on  the  injuries  and  slight  ailments  of  his  neigh- 
bors, applying  his  compresses,  warm  or  cold,  according  to 
the  state  of  the  inflammation.  To  this  he  added  sponging 
different  parts,  and  sometimes  the  whole  body,  with  water, 
with  plain  diet,  and  water  drinking  at  the  same  time. 

"  In  the  midst  of  these  trials  a  wagon  went  over  him, 
and  broke  some  of  his  ribs.  Two  practitioners  of  the  vil- 
lage gave  him  no  hope  of  recovery.  He  took  the  resolution 
of  trying  his  own  plan.  He  recovered  very  rapidly.  His 
cure  made  a  sensation,  after  such  an  unfavorable  opinion. 
Many  now  applied  for  advice,  and  he  made  many  cures.  It 
gave  him  an  opportunity  of  studying  the  phenomena  of  dis- 
ease, and  the  different  effects  produced  by  water.  From  this 
he  formed  a  theory,  and  contrived  new  modes  of  applying 
his  remedies  to  gain  certain  results. 

"The  powerful  aid  of  sweating  dwelt  on  his  mind,  and 
he  contrived  the  plan  of  enveloping  his  patients  in  blankets. 
This  answered  his  views,  when  properly  used  and  followed 
by  a  bath.  This  was  not  attended  with  any  debility  and  it 
relieved  the  internal  organs,  and  the  constitutional  powers. 
He  was  puzzled  how  to  treat  the  critical  phenomena, 
which  took  place  during  the  water  treatment,  and  here  the 
water-cure  has  gained  by  being  thrown  on  its  own  resources. 
Had  he  been  licensed  to  use  medicines,  in  many  of  his  di- 
lemmas he  probably  would  have  resorted  to  them,  instead 
of  finding  out  a  surer  and  safer  plan  of  treatment — the  di- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  249 

versified  modes  of  using  water.  He  was  also  dissatisfied 
with  his  imperfect  plan  of  treating  fevers  and  inflammations. 
By  continual  reflection,  he  arrived  at  the  process  of  envel- 
oping in  the  wet  sheet,  the  crowning  discovery  of  the  water 
cure.  With  the  aid  of  this  valuable  remedy,  he  was  able 
to  modify  his  treatment  as  he  pleased.  He  soon  discovered 
its  powerful  effects,  when  used  in  the  treatment  of  chronic 
diseases. 

"All  this  however  did  not  go  on  smoothly,  or  without 
obstacles.  He  was  denounced  as  an  unlicensed  and  dan- 
gerous impostor.  He  was  fined,  and  his  treatment  was  sus- 
pended. Confident  in  the  goodness  of  his  cause,  and  backed 
by  numerous  patients,  he  appealed  against  the  sentence,  and 
it  was  set  aside.  Priessnitz  and  his  system  became  impor- 
tant. It  attracted  the  attention  of  the  government  at  Vienna. 
A  commission  of  medical  men  went  to  inquire  into  the  new 
water-cure.  Old  Baron  Turkheim,  at  the  head  of  the  med^- 
ical  department  was  at  the  head  of  this,  a  man  of  spirit,  and 
learning.  On  his  return  to  Vienna,  at  the  medical  society, 
he  was  asked  'what  he  thought  of  the  new  charlatanism/ 
He  replied,  'Priessnitz  is  an  honest  man,  and  no  impostor, 
and  his  mode  of  treatment  is  superior  to  ours.  Believe  me, 
gentlemen,  we  have  much  to  learn  from  this  countryman.' 
This  made  the  sages  of  Vienna  angry  at  the  founder  of  the 
water-cure.  Those  who  left  their  care  and  went  to  this 
water-cure  returned  with  perfect  health. 

"The  commission  analyzed  the  water  to  discover  its 
mystic  virtue  !  They  found  it  was  spring  water!  They  ex- 
amined the  sponges  with  great  care,  to  see  if  they  contained 
any  secret  remedies.  He  was  now  taken  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  government,  and  a  policeman  was  stationed  at 
his  hospital,  to  note  the  number  of  the  patients,  and  repor.t 
the  deaths,  and  other  results  of  the  treatment.  Up  to  1841, 


250  THE  LABORER; 

he  had  treated  7,219  strangers,  and  there  had  been  thirty- 
nine  deaths.*  Some  of  these  died  before  commencing  the 
treatment,  and  were  in  a  dangerous  condition.  This  peas- 
ant doctor  made  $750,000.  Nobles  and  the  sons  of  kings 
were  among  his  patients. "f 

There  was  a  ship  from  Africa,  laden  with  blacks,  des- 
tined for  Cuba.  They  overpowered  the  crew,  and  com- 
pelled them  to  steer  for  home.  This  ship  was  picked  up 
on  the  coast  of  Connecticut.  It  was  resolved  by  some 
good  people  to  send  these  Mendians  back  to  Africa.  Mr. 
George  Thompson  of  Ohio  became  their  missionary.  In 
his  "Observations  on  Africa,"  he  says:  "To  take  medicine 
is  unnecessary.  In  the  most  violent  attacks  of  fever,  pure 
water,  well  administered,  is  more  salutary  than  the  whole  list 
of  medicines.  Rightly  applied,  it  relieves  pain  in  the  head, 
bowels,  and  limbs ;  it  purges  or  vomits  ;  it  strengthens,  en- 
livens, and  invigorates;  it  carries  safely  through  the  fever. 
All  persons  going  to  live  in  Africa,  should  acquire  the  true 
principles  of  hydropathy.' 

General  Havelock,  in  India,  could  get  no  relief  from  his 
chronic  sickness.  The  English  physicians  in  that  country 
could  do  him  no  good.  When  he  went  to  England,  none 
could  help  him  there.  He  then  made  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Si- 
lesian  peasant's  hospital  to  be  cured.  In  a  letter  to  a  friend 
he  says-:  UI  can  hardly  describe  to  you  how  much  I  have 
already  gained  by  these  potations  and  immersions.  *  *  *  *  I 
am  to  devour  eight  pounds  of  grapes  per  diem."  His  bi- 
ographer adds:  "What  with  the  grapes  and  hydropathy  to- 
gether he  rallied  yet  more  sensibly,  and  became  compara- 
tively a  vigorous,  healthy  man."  J 

*  Among  100  well  persons  three  die  in  a  year.     A  good  test  of  Mr.  P's  skill. 
3?fThe  practice  of  Water-cure,  by  Dr.  J.  Wilson.     Fowler  &  Wells,  1855. 
J  Life  of  Wm.  Havelock,  by  Rev.Wm.  Brock.    Carter  &  Brother,  1858 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  251 

Volney,  in  his  travels  in  the  United  States,  says :  "I  have 
been  attacked  with  an  habitual  flux  in  Georgia,  in  conse- 
quence of  fatigue.  In  whatever  climate  it  originates,  it 
yields  to  no  remedy.  No  astringent  was  of  any  use  to  me, 
not  even  rhubarb  and  ipecacuanha  was  of  any  service  to  me. 
I  took  doses  of  opium.  The  relief  was  momentary.  Where 
plums  grew,  by  eating  this  excellent  fruit  I  was  relieved  for 
that  season ;  and  no  sooner  was  I  obliged  to  abandon  this 
fruit,  the  disease  prevailed  again.  The  cold  bath  I  found  of 
some  benefit  to  me."  * 

Thomas  Jefferson  said:  "A  physician  was  one  who  put 
medicines,  that  he  knew  but  little  about,  into  a  human  stom- 
ach that  he  knows  nothing  about."  Such  were  his  prejudices 
against  this  class,  that  he  was  unwilling  for  his  young  rela- 
tives to  enter  the  profession. 

Says  the  "-Democratic  Review : "  IC Among  the  allopathic 
medicines  in  common  use,  we  have  the  parafyzers,  aconitic 
and  hemlock  ;  the  convulsive*,  strychnia  and  prussic  acid;  and 
the  delirafacients  are  henbane,  stramonium,  and  the  deadly 
night-shade — seven  poisons  of  the  most  virulent  and  sud- 
den in  the  whole  kingdom  of  nature.  Using  these,  we  can 
only  wonder  that  the  virus  of  the  rattlesnake,  or  the  saliva 
of  hydrophobia  was  not  added  to  the  list,  and  dealt  out 
to  suffering  invalids  on  the  authority  of  formal  receipts. 
Next  to  these  we  have  the  less  active,  but  still  powerful 
poisons,  opium,  cinchona,  digitalis,  scammony,  gamboge, 
hellebore,  croton  oil,  colocynth,  and  a  long  list  of  vegetable 
poisons,  as  if  the  whole  vegetable  kingdom  had  been  ran- 
sacked ;  and  when  any  substance  was  found,  fetid  to  the 
smell,  nauseous  to  the  taste,  and  deadly  in  its  action,  it  fol- 
lows that  men  must  take  it  for  medicine — for  health." 

*A  view  of  the  climate  and  soil  of  the  United  States,  by  C.  F.  Volney. 
Page  309.  Conrad,  publisher.  Philadelphia,  1804. 


252  THE  LABORER; 

The  "  Scientific  American  "  tells  us  that  a  blister  made  in 
the  hand  by  a  hoe,  or  some  other  implement  of  industry, 
will  cure  sickness.  This  seems  to  have  been  a  remedy  of 
Mr.  Lyman  Beecher,  to  work  away  the  symptoms  of  sick- 
ness, by  working  on  some  land.  This  seems  to  be  true.  If 
we  become  indolent,  and  keep  on  the  sofa,  we  shall  be  sick. 
Oliver  Goldsmith  was  a  literary  physician,  a  class,  people 
think,  are  not  good  at  healing.  At  one  time  he  sent  a  sick 
person  a  round  box,  labeled  to  be  taken  as  often  as  necessi- 
ties require  it.  It  contained  ten  pieces  of  gold. 

It  can  not  be  denied  that  mankind  need  a  class  to  be  so 
skilled  that  they  can  amputate  a  limb,  sew  up  an  artery,  or 
trepan  a  dented  skull.  This  is  no  evidence  that  physicians 
should  be  so  numerous.  Select  one  or  two  in  a  town,  and 
give  them  all  the  custom, who  will  make  you  well  quicker, 
and,  perhaps,  charge  you  less.  Dr.  Abernethy  had  a  large 
practice  to  make  $100,000  a  year.  People  had  to  be  brief 
when  they  came  to  him.  A  lady  showed  him  her  finger 
He  said  "a  poultice."  She  came  again  and  showed  it 
and  said,  "  Better  ;  how  much  do  you  charge  ?"  The  reply 
was,  "  Nothing  ;  you  have  the  art  of  holding  your  tongue." 
He  used  to  tell  some  to  earn  sixpence  a  day,  and  live  on  it. 

Bulwer  said  a  physician  "was  one  who  relieved  you  of 
your  money,  not  of  your  malady."  In  his  "  Confessions 
on  the  Water-Cure,"  which  contains  a  description  how  he 
was  cured  by  water  when  the  physician  failed,  he  says : 
"A  little  reflection  taught  me  the  learned  professions  are  not 
disposed  to  favor  innovation  on  that  which  is  sacred  in  their 
eyes.  A  physician  can  not  be  expected  to  own  that  a  Si- 
lesian  peasant  can  cure  with  water  the  diseases  that  resist 
an  armament  of  phials.  I  threw  physic  to  the  dogs."  * 

*  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  books  of  Fowlers  &  Wells,  hydropathic  pub- 
lishers, city  of  New  York,  for  that  knowledge  to  enable  him  to  cure  himself. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  253 

The  advent  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  world  is  the  most  re- 
markable event  in  its  history.  At  the  present  time,  fully  a 
fifth  of  the  human  race  believe  in  his  name.  He  was  full 
of  kindness,  benignity,  and  devotion  to  men.  His  object  was 
to  benefit  them  on  earth  and  in  heaven.  His  career  was  an 
extraordinary  one.  His  death  was  very  painful.  He  was  the 
victim  of  prejudice  and  superstition.  He  came  to  level  the 
galling  distinctions  of  human  society ;  to  make  the  painful 
inequalities  of  life  to  cease;  to  add  what  was  lacking  in  the 
Jewish  law  ;  to  make  the  moral  laws  of  man  complete.  He 
showed  how  absurd  was  the  Jewish  law  of  retaliation.  In  its 
place  he  gave  the  law  of  kindness  and  forbearance.  He 
came  to  give  men  light  for  their  darkness,  happiness  for 
their  fears.  Men  desired  immortality.  He  showed  them  it 
could  be  obtained,  and  there  was  an  inheritance  beyond  the 
grave.  He  upbraided  mankind  for  their  wickedness,  lux- 
ury, and  superstition.  In  him  there  was  no  hypocrisy  or 
dissimulation,  no  sin  or  vice,  no  desire  to  be  rich. 

That  he  was  a  reformer,  may  be  inferred  from  the  lan- 
guage of  his  commission:  "The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon 
me ;  because  he  hath  chosen  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor,  he  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted,  to  preach 
deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovering  of  sight  to  the 
blind,  and  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised. "  [Luke, 
ch.  iv.,  v.  1 8.]  For  this  kindness  to  the  human  race,  men 
should  adore  and  love  him.  There  have  appeared  many  re- 
formers who  loved  the  human  race,  and  gave  them  noble 
precepts  for  their  moral  conduct.  The  precepts  of  Jesus 
are  nobler  than  them  all. 

Plato  wrote  the  scheme  of  a  republic,  in  which  the  law 
should  watch  over  the  equal  distribution  of  the  external  in- 
struments of  unequal  power,  honors,  property,  etc. 

Confucius  said:  "If  a  state  is  governed  by  the  principles 


254  THE  LABORER; 

of  reason,  poverty  and  misery  are  the  subjects  of  shame  ;  if 
a  state  is  not  governed  by  the  principles  of  reason,  riches 
and  honors  are  the  subjects  of  shame." 

Diogenes  devised  a  noble  and  worthy  plan  of  opposition 
to  the  system  of  master  and  slave.  He  said  :  "It  is  in  the 
power  of  each  individual  to  level  the  inequality  which  is  the 
topic  of  the  complaint  of  mankind.  Let  him  be  aware  of 
his  own  worth,  and  the  station  he  occupies  in  the  scale  of 
moral  beings.  Diamonds  and  gold,  palaces  and  scepters, 
derive  their  value  from  the  opinion  of  mankind.  The  only 
sumptuary  law  which  can  be  imposed  on  the  use  and  fab- 
rication of  these  instruments  of  mischief  and  deceit,  these 
symbols  of  successful  injustice,  is  the  law  of  opinion.  Every 
man  possesses  the  power,  in  this  respect,  to  legislate  for  him- 
self. Let  him  be  well  aware  of  his  own  worth 'and  moral 
dignity.  Let  him  yield  in  meek  reverence  to  any  worthier 
or  wiser  than  he,  so  long  as  he  accords  no  veneration  to  the 
splendor  of  his  apparel,  the  luxury  of  his  food,  the  multi- 
tude of  his  flatterers  and  slaves.  It  is  because  ye  value  and 
seek  the  empty  pageantry  of  wealth  and  social  power  that 
ye  are  enslaved  to  its  possessions.  Decrease  your  physical 
wants ;  learn  to  live,  like  the  beasts  of  the  forest  and  the 
birds  of  the  air,  so  far  as  nourishment  and  shelter  is  con- 
cerned ;  ye  will  not  need  to  complain  that  other  individu- 
als of  your  species  are  surrounded  by  the  diseases  of  sub- 
serviency and  oppression." 

Jesus  of  Nazareth  saw  that  the  majority  of  men  were  in 
poverty  and  ignorance,  gratifying  the  luxury  of  many  at  the 
expense  of  their  comfort.  These  few  did  not  try  to  govern 
their  own  evil  passions.  They  sought  to  gain  majesty,  rank, 
wealth,  and  power  over  the  weaker  part  of  men.  It  was  for 
these  proud  ones  that  these  precepts  were  given,  to  bring 
them  to  a  better  feeling,  to  teach  love  and  kindness  to  men. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  255 

He  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them,  saying:  Blessed 
are  the  poor  in  spirit :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn :  for  they  shall  be  comforted. 

Blessed  are  the  meek:   for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth. 

Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  right- 
eousness :  for  they  shall  be  filled. 

Blessed  are  the  merciful :  for  they  shall  obtain  mercy. 

Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart :  for  they  shall  see  God. 

Blessed  are  the  peace-makers :  for  they  shall  be  called  the 
children  of  God. 

Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  righteousness* 
sake  :  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you,  and  persecute 
you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for 
my  sake. 

How  grand  !  How  noble  !  How  sublime  are  these  pre- 
cepts !  A  belief  in  them  makes  men  love  and  pity  their 
race,  and  not  trample  upon  them,  nor  regard  them  as  beasts 
of  burden  to  ride  into  power,  or  stepping  stones  to  ease  and 
leisure.  The  eloquence  of  Jesus  was  directed  to  the  en- 
slaving vices  of  mankind  that  have  made  them  miserable 
for  ages.  Nations  had  warred  against  nations,  they  had  em- 
ployed the  ingenuity  of  men  for  destroying  property,  and 
lives.  Instead  of  one  grand  community,  mankind  were  di- 
vided into  many,  each  so  organized  that  they  could  ruin 
one  another.  To  carry  out  these  plans  required  that  mill- 
ions of  sensitive  beings  should  suffer  agony  and  want. 

How  much  superior  are  these  precepts  to  the  meaning- 
less, inexplicable  code  that  councils  make  for  us  to  square 
our  lives  by,  and  which  needs  an  interpreter.  Men  are 
destitute;  and  were  law-makers,  interpreters,  and  judges  to 
do  something  else,  some  misery  would  disappear.  It  is  only 
during  the  past  four  hundred  years  that  men  have  had  a 


256  THE  LABORER; 

printed  code  to  refer  to.  The  time  was  when  the  decis- 
ion of  the  magistrate  was  common  law.  He  was  supposed 
to  be  full  of  piety,  justice,  and  wisdom.  An  analysis  of  law 
cases  show  that  they  are  the  disputes  of  men  worth  millions 
with  those  worth  nothing ;  those  worth  four  thousand  with 
those  worth  forty  dollars,  or  some  other  extreme.  If  the 
usages  of  society  were  different,  or  the  laboring  man  was 
more  enlightened,  the  future  creations  of  labor  would  be  re- 
tained more  by  those  who  make  them.  The  inequalities  of 
life  cause  endless  lawsuits,  which  will  cease  when  the  poor 
possess  more. 

Crimes  and  wrongs  are  on  the  increase  in  this  Republic. 
Legislation  is  an  attempt  to  provide  against  the  mistakes  of 
men,  and  to  assign  penalties  for  injuries ;  it  destroys  as 
much  as  it  preserves.  The  command  of  Jesus  Christ  is, 
uLove  your  enemies  ;  bless  them  that  curse  you,  that  you 
may  be  the  sons  of  your  Heavenly  Father."  If  men  would 
obey  this  command,  be  forgiving  and  forbearing  they  would 
be  happier  and  better. 

An  Athenian  soldier  accidently  set  fire  to  the  city  of  Sar- 
dis.  It  was  burned  to  the  ground.  The  Persians  retal- 
iated on  Athens.  They  assembled  successive  expeditions 
on  the  most  extensive  scale.  Athens  was  burned  to  the 
ground,  the  territory  was  laid  waste,  and  every  living  thing 
destroyed.  The  Persians  desisted  when  not  able  to  do  any 
more  mischief.  Alexander  retaliated  by  destroying  Persia. 
If  men  would  be  forgiving,  how  much  happier  the  world 
would  be.  If  the  sums  or  the  time  that  is  spent  in  war, 
were  employed  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  man,  how  dif- 
ferent would  be  human  society ! 

"  Be  ye  perfect,  as  your  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect."  If 
men  will  obey  this  sentence,  it  is  better  than  volumes  of 
laws.  To  understand  the  whole  moral  duty  of  man,  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  257 

Decalogue  must  be  studied,  of  which  one  single  precept, 
strikes  at  the  root  of  all  wrongs:  "Thou  shalt  not  covet." 

The  followers  of  Christ  after  his  death,  or  "They  that 
believed,  were  together,  and  had  all  things  common;  and 
sold  their  possessions  and  goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men, 
as  every  man  had  need.  And  they  continuing  daily  with 
one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  breaking  bread  from  house 
to  house,  did  eat  their  meat  with  gladness  and  singleness  of 
heart,  praising  God."  [Acts,  ch.  2.,  v.  45]. 

This  was  a  severe  blow  to  pride,  to  ample  possessions,  to 
costly  food  and  raiment,  and  to  magnificent  rooms.  No 
great  moral  improvement  of  mankind  can  take  place  till  a 
system  of  equality  like  this  prevails. 

These  Christians  increased  rapidly  in  spite  of  persecu- 
tion and  torture.  Pliny,  a  governor  of  a  Roman  province, 
in  the  year  104,  tells  Trajan,  the  Roman  Emperor,  "That 
the  Christians  are  not  guilty  of  theft  or  adultery  ;  they  ob- 
served their  word  and  were  true  to  their  trust."  Tertullian 
says :  u  Were  the  Christians  to  retire  to  another  country, 
the  Romans  would  have  a  frightful  solitude."  In  the  third 
century  there  were  Christians  in  the  camp,  the  senate,  and 
every-where  but  in  the  temple  and  theater.  St.  Chrysostom 
examining  from  what  source  the  eminent  virtues  of  the  first 
Christians  flowed,  ascribes  it  principally  to  their  divesting 
themselves  of  their  possessions.  He  says :  "Whosoever 
hath  a  large  possession,  hath  a  tempter  to  draw  him  into 
hell." 

It  is  a  source  of  regret  that  there  are  so  many  divisions 
in  the  Christian  Church.  It  would  be  better  for  mankind 
if  they  would  unite  and  form  one  church.  How  many  min- 
isters it  would  send  to  the  plow !  The  town  of  T ,  on 

the  Miami  Canal,  contains  three  thousand  five  hundred  in- 
habitants, and  has  eleven  churches.     Two  churches  would 


258  THE  LABORER; 

be  sufficient  to  contain  all  the  church-goers.  There  are 
two  kinds  of  Methodists  and  Presbyterians.  The  Baptist 
Church  had  forty  members,  most  of  whom  were  poor,  and 
homeless.  Their  church  cost  $4,000,  which  is  on  each 
member  $100.  These  forty  members  pay  an  annual  salary 
of  $800  to  their  minister,  which  is  twenty  dollars  on  each 
member.  If  one  of  these  homeless  members,  at  the  close  of 
life,  should  say,  Why  am  I  homeless  ?  the  answer  might  be, 
You  have  given  sufficient  to  have  made  you  a  good  home. 
Religion  does  not  demand  these  sacrifices.  The  truth  can 
be  found  at  a  cheaper  rate. 

The  Primitive  Methodists  were  also  poor.  The  basement 
of  their  church  was  divided  into  cells,  the  abodes  of  women 
in  years.  While  looking  at  these  poor,  cheerless  homes,  the 
thought  occurred,  if  the  labor  that  is  in  superfluous  monu- 
ments were  in  cottage  homes  for  widows,  it  would  promote 
their  happiness.  The  time  is  coming  when  the  most  costly 
monuments  will  tell  that  those  beneath  have  been  success- 
ful plunderers  of  others'  labor. 

The  Methodists  have  local  preachers  who  are  as  good  as 
the  itinerants.  The  world  is  very  wicked,  and  something 
must  be  done  to  make  it  better.  To  induce  the  people  to 
come  to  church,  it  should  be  made  attractive  by  organs  and 
beautiful  architecture.  To  such  a  church  there  might  be 
half  a  dozen  preachers  who  could  preach  gratuitously  and 
by  turns.  Among  the  Dunkers  and  Friends  you  will  find 
no  paid  preachers.  Among  them  the  strictest  honesty  pre- 
vails. These  have  volunteer  preachers.  There  are  many 
of  the  sermons  of  Wesley,  Watts,  Whitefield  and  others,  that 
can  be  read  with  profit.  To  make  a  sermon,  requires  three 
days'  time.  There  will  not  be  wanting  men  full  of  benev- 
olence and  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  who  will  teach  his  precepts, 
without  any  reward.  A  paid  ministry  has  its  evils.  It  can 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  259 

not  strike  as  heavy  blows  at  folly  and  weakness,  which  many 
in  the  congregation  practice.  The  minister  must  treat  in  a 
dainty  manner  the  faults  of  some,  or  he  will  lose  a  part  of 
his  salary.  The  early  Christians  received  no  pay  for  preach- 
ing. Paul  could  work  and  preach.  Franklin  told  Paine  not 
to  publish  his  "Age  of  Reason."  He  said :  u  Don't  un- 
chain the  tiger  j  men  are  wicked  with  religion,  they  will  be 
worse  without  it."  The  Bible  pronounces  woes  on  those 
who  "add  house  to  house,"  on  the  lawyers,  on  those  who 
are  rich,  and  oppress  the  poor.  See  James,  ch.  v. 

These  examples  prove  that  men  can  be  reclaimed  from 
sin.  Mrs.  E.  Fry  went  to  Newgate  Prison,  where  three 
hundred  ferocious  and  riotous  females  were  confined.  She 
proposed  to  find  them  employment  and  instruction.  She 
told  them  of  the  comfort  to  be  derived  from  industry  and 
sobriety,  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  doing  right  and  acquir- 
ing knowledge,  the  happiness  and  joy  of  a  religious  life.  So 
great  was  the  change,  at  the  end  of  two  weeks  the  Gover- 
nor hardly  knew  the  prison  again.  The  Lord  Mayor,  Al- 
dermen, and  Sheriffs  were  astonished  at  the  orderly  deport- 
ment of  the  prisoners — their  attention  to  the  Scriptures— the 
obedience  and  respect  shown  to  visitors — their  cheerful  man- 
ners and  the  absence  of  noise,  tumult,  and  contention.  Li- 
centiousness and  rioting  were  exchanged  for  sobriety  and 
cleanliness.  Hundreds  were  made  better.  One  said  to 
Mrs  Fry:  "From  you  I  learned  to  flee  the  road  that  leads 
to  hell,  and  to  look  to  my  Savior  for  pardon.  This  doc- 
trine teaches  me  to  deny  all  ungodliness  and  wordly  pleas- 
sures.  Dear  Madam,  permit  me  to  give  you  two  pounds  for 
benevolent  purposes,  which  I  have  earned." 

Isaac  T.  Hopper,  a  Friend,  spent  fifty  years  helping  poor 
people  to  work,  and  slaves  to  freedom.  He  used  to  preach 
to  the  inmates  of  Sing  Sing  Prison.  He  often  moved  a 


260  THE  LABORER  ; 

large  part  of  his  unhappy  audience  to  tears.  His  friendly 
counsel  produced  permanent  effects  on  their  characters.  In 
a  letter  to  his  daughter,  he  says  "  One  of  these  poor  fellows 
attacked  the  life  of  his  keeper.  I  had  an  interview  with  him. 
He  received  what  I  said  kindly,  and  said  he  could  not  con- 
trol his  passion.  I  tried  to  convince  him  he  had  power  to 
govern  his  temper.  Since  I  have  talked  to  him,  he  has  be- 
come better.  I  hardly  ever  saw  a  more  changed  man." 

Burke,  in  his  "Reflections  on  the  French  Revolution," 
says:  u  When  the  Anabaptists  of  Munster,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  had  filled  Germany  with  confusion,  by  their  system 
of  levelling,  and  wild  opinions  concerning  property,  what 
country  in  Europe  did  not  feel  just  cause  of  alarm  at  the 
progress  of  their  fury?  "  The  Anabaptists  arose  in  1521. 
They  taught  that  to  Christians  who  had  the  Gospel  to  guide 
them,  -magistrates  were  unnecessary ;  that  the  distinctions 
of  birth,  rank,  or  wealth  should  be  abolished,  and  that  all 
Christians  should  live  together  in  a  state  of  equality,  throw- 
ing their  possessions  into  one  stock,  and  live  as  one  family. 
In  1525,  Munzer  and  his  associates  put  themselves  at  the 
head  of  a  large  army,  and  declared  against  all  laws,  govern- 
ments, and  magistrates  of  every  kind.  They  got  possession 
of  Munster  city,  deposed  the  magistrates,  and  confiscated 
their  estates  for  public  good.  It  is  reported  that  100,000 
fell  by  the  sword.  It  is  supposed  a  part  of  these  were  Cath- 
olics, and  others  having  no  religion.  The  first  insurgents 
groaned  under  oppression,  and  took  up  arms  for  civil  de- 
fense. It  was  not  a  war  about  baptism.  It  was  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  feudal  system,  and  the  oppression  of  the  Ger- 
man princes. 

The  Dunkers  arose  in  1724,  Corneal  Reissel,  a  German, 
was  their  founder.  Persecution  compelled  them  to  settle 
fifty  miles  from  Philadelphia.  They  do  not  shave;  their 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  261 

best  speakers  are  ordained  to  be  ministers.  They  still  are 
of  the  same  faith  as  their  fathers.  They  work  at  agricul- 
ture, and  are  very  plain  in  their  apparel  and  furniture.  The 
Moravians  derive  their  origin  from  the  Greek  Church.  In 
the  ninth  century,  the  kings  of  Bulgaria  and  Moravia  were 
converted  to  this  faith.  The  Romish  Church  compelled 
some  to  submit  to  its  dictates.  Some  united  with  the  Wal- 
denses.*  In  1547,  they  were  called  "The  Brethren  of 
the  Law  of  Christ."  A  civil  war  broke  out  in  Bohemia, 
which  compelled  them  to  scatter  to  other  places.  A  colony, 
under  Christian  David,  in  1722,  went  for  protection  to 
Count  Zinzendorf,  who  helped  them  to  lands,  and  to  a 
town  which  was  called  Hernhutt,  From  this  place  has  gone 

*  O 

forth  many  a  noble  colony  of  plain,  pious  people  to  every 
quarter  of  the  earth.  The  Count  became  a  convert  to 
their  faith.  They  have  economies,  or  choir-houses,  where 
they  live  in  communities.  The  single  men  and  women,  and 
the  widows  and  widowers,  there  support  themselves.  They 
have  established  fifty  missions,  which  have  been  a  great 
blessing  to  men.  Their  Greenland  mission  was  begun  in 
1733;  in  North  America  in  1734;  in  Crimea,  in  1765. 
This  last  mission  was  among  the  Tartars,  to  whom  industry 
was  taught  by  example.  The  Moravians  had  a  moat  for 
protection  around  their  town. 

An  ancient  Inquisitor  says  of  the  Waldenses:  "  These 
heretics  are  known  by  their  manners  and  conversation;  they 
are  orderly  and  modest  in  their  deportment ;  they  avoid  all 
pride  in  their  dress,  they  neither  indulge  in  finery,  nor  are 
they  ragged  and  mean.  They  avoid  commerce,  that  they 
may  be  free  from  deceit  and  falsehood.  They  get  their 
living  by  manual  industry.  They  are  not  anxious  about 

*  Christians  who  never  submitted   to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.     They 
reside  in   the  valley  of  Piedmont,  in  Italy. 


262  THE  LABORER; 

amassing  riches,  but  content  themselves  with  the  necessaries 
of  life.  They  are  chaste,  temperate,  and  sober.  They  ab- 
stain from  anger."  The  Archbishop  of  Turin  says :  "  Their 
heresy,  excepted,  they  generally  live  a  purer  life  than  other 
Christians." 

The  Friends  [Quakers]  came  from  the  teachings  of  a 
weaver,  in  the  fifteenth  century.  He  taught  men  to  despise 
gold  and  silver  lace,  embroidery,  laces  and  ruffles  ;  not  to 
use  the  word  master  or  servant,  or  address  others  with  titles. 
He  taught  that,  to  attack  others,  violated  the  laws  of  human- 
ity; to  defend  one's  self  broke  those  of  Christianity.  If  any 
asked  for  his  coat,  he  got  his  waistcoat  too.  They  w*ho 
struck  one  cheek  were  invited  to  strike  the  other  also.  The 
Friends  would  take  no  oaths,  pay  no  tithes,  for  which  they 
were  whipped,  imprisoned,  and  put  in  pillories  and  in  mad- 
houses. Wm.  Penn,  in  1681,  obtained  for  them  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  which  these  people  went  in  large  numbers.  Said 
Cromwell:  "This  is  the  only  religion  I  can  not  bribe." 

The  monks  were  of  various  kinds.  The  meaning  of  the 
word  is  "solitary,"  and  is  from  monachus.  Persecution  was 
the  cause  of  men  living  in  deserts.  Some  lived  in  commu- 
nities under  a  superior,  and  their  houses  were  called  mon- 
asteries. Those  who  lived  in  cells  apart  were  called  laurte. 
Those  having  a  fixed  place  were  called  Chartreux,  Bene- 
dictines, and  Bernardines.  Strolling,  begging  monks  were 
the  Capuchins  and  Franciscans.  St.  Anthony,  at  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century,  engaged  them  to  live  in  societies,  and 
have  fixed  rules  for  their  conduct.  They  were  first  in 
Egypt,  then  in  Palestine  and  Syria.  They  went  to  Italy, 
France,  and  Britain.  Monks  were  distinguished  by  the 
color  of  their  habit — black,  white,  and  gray.  There  were 
monks  of  the  choir  and  the  cloister,  professed  monks,  and 
lay  monks.  The  latter  had  priesthood  conferred  on  them. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  263 

From  these  examples  we  learn  what  undefiled  religion 
does  for  a  guilty  world.  It  is  a  remedy  for  its  wrongs.  Jesus 
commands  us  to  put  away  all  avarice  and  selfishness.  Do 
all  Christians  do  this?  No.  Many  of  the  children  of  light 
and  grace  are  full  of  selfishness.  Religion  makes  some  in- 
dustrious, frugal,  and  saving,  who  will  buy  wild  lands,  town 
lots,  stocks,  and  merchandise,  with  which  to  get  the  earn- 
ings of  others,  forgetting  that  the  Scriptures  say  "having 
food  and  raiment  let  us  therewith  be  content."  Many 
think  that  giving  to  the  heathen  will  cure  faults.  It  is  not 
to  be  denied  that  this  is  a  noble  charity.  Many  triumphs 
have  been  won  where  the  heathen  have  been  taught  pro- 
ductive industry.  Where  a  people  have  the  arts,  the  con- 
verts are  costly.  In  Turkey,  a  worldly  paper  has  made  a 
calculation,  the  converts  cost  each  $20,000,  and  a  less  sum 
converts  here.  The  Christians  deserve  our  admiration. 

New  York  City  has  one  church  member  to  fifteen  who 
are  not.  These  few  build  the  churches,  support  societies 
that  benefit  men.  The  extreme  poor  do  not  go  to  church. 
Their  dingy  hats,  faded  clothes,  ill  contrasts  with  the  gayety 
there.  The  poor  can  enjoy  the  pleasing  strains  of  the  or- 
gan, and  the  choir  singing  the  songs  of  the  ecstatic  Wesley, 
the  pious  Watts,  or  the  gifted  Montgomery.  In  a  gothic 
church,  having  an  organ,  and  a  quartette  choir,  the  writer 
counted  fifty  persons  on  a  summer's  Sunday  eve.  Another 
.church,  having  seats  for  2,000,  had  120  persons  in  attend- 
ance. A  gothic  church  hangs  out  a  sign  u  Seats  are  Free." 
Add  to  this,  the  brothers  wear  home-spuns,  and  the  sisters 
calicoes.  This  will  induce  the  poor  to  attend. 

In  this  city  [Cincinnati]  is  a  Female  Methodist  College, 
which  looks  like  an  abbey  of  the  olden  time.  It  has  rooms 
for  100  ladies,  in  which  to  learn  the  Latin  name  of  a  dog, 
and  the  Greek  name  of  a  sheep.  To  learn  these  languages 


264  THE  LABORER; 

requires  four  years,  and  will  be  forgotten  in  five  unless  used. 
That  these  ladies  may  be  refined  and  polished,  others  must 
be  rude  and  ignorant.  To  sweep  halls,  and  cook  their  food 
in  the  basement  requires  ten  servants.  At  night  they  will 
retire  to  the  attics.  These  polished  ladies  will  require  at 
least  twenty  persons  to  create  their  food  and  clothing.  The 
wages  of  these  give  no  books,  no  leisure,  no  learning.  If 
all  would  labor  eight  hours  in  a  day,  learning  would  be  equal. 
Eight  hours  daily  could  be  spent  conjugating  Latin  verbs, 
or  declining  Greek  nouns.  The  strangest  feature  is  that  a 
hall  of  learning  must  be  endowed,  the  Latin  and  Greek 
paid  for  by  human  society.  Says  a  manager  of  one  of  these 
colleges  to  the  Cincinnati  Suspension  Bridge  Co.,  we  will 
take  $500,000  worth  of  shares,  to  give  us  yearly  $50,000 
to  pay  the  teachers.  Suppose  the  people  of  Cincinnati  bor- 
row the  money  of  the  State,  and  give  to  it  every  year  the 
tolls  ;  in  ten  years  the  bridge  would  be  free,  and  persons  can 
keep  their  money  for  their  own  accomplishments. 

To  take  interest  on  money  is  condemned  by  the  Bible. 
Our  Lord  says  :  iC  Do  good  and  lend,  hoping  for  nothing  again." 
[Luke  ch.,  vi,  35].  Webster  says  "  USURY  comes  from  the 
Latin  word  usura,  to  use — a  premium  stipulated  to  be  paid - 
for  the  use  of  money.  Usury  formerly  denoted  any  legal 
interest.  In  this  sense  the  word  is  no  longer  in  use."  Noth- 
ing can  be  plainer  that  interest  is  forbidden.  It  was  so  un- 
derstood by  the  "Fathers."  Ezekiel  [ch.  18,  v.  13]  says: 
"  Hath  given  forth  upon  usury,  and  hath  taken  Increase  [in- 
terest]: shall  he  then  live?  He  shall  not  live."  These  texts 
refer  to  usury.  Matt.  5,  42  ',  Exod.  22,  25  ;  Levit.  25,  35 ; 
Deut.  23,  19;  Psalm  15,  5;  Ezek.  18.  17  i  Gal.  6,  2. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

FARMERS    AND    MECHANICS. 

THE  FARMER'S  BURDENS  ARE  TOO  HEAVY— IT  is  HIS  DUTY  TO  MAKE  THEM 
LIGHT — How  TO  EDUCATE  HIS  CHILDREN — To  FERTILIZE  THE  SOIL — How 
THE  MECHANIC  MAY  SHORTEN  HIS  LABOR — How  TO  OBTAIN  A  HOME. 

"Agriculture  is  the  only  honest  way  of  living." — BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN. 
"  Have  but  few  wants,  and  the  means  to  supply  them." — DE    WARVILLI. 

OU  who  are  farmers  are  almost  crushed  to  the 
earth,  with  unrequited  toil.  Like  beasts  of  burden 
you  bear  with  patience  heavy  loads.  The  injustice 
of  society,  the  remains  of  barbarism,  bind  burdens  on  the 
farmer  that  should  not  be  endured.  For  instance,  a  number 
of  idle  ruffians  meet  to  see  a  "mill,"  or  two  persons  maim 
each  other.  A  number  of  pale,  smooth-faced  gentlemen  in 
women's  toggery,  met  to  try  a  MAN,  not  for  crime  or  out- 
rage on  men's  moral  feelings,  but  for  preaching  in  a  Meth- 
odist meeting  house,  for  persuading  men  "to  cease  to  do 
evil,  to  learn  to  do  well."  For  this  he  was  arraigned  be- 
fore a  tribunal  of  Episcopal  clergymen,  who  should  have 
been  better  employed.  There  were  many  outcasts  around 
them,  suffering  for  the  necessaries  of  life.  Had  these  men 
first  created  their  food  and  clothes,  their  faults  would  not 
have  been  so  great.  Like  worms  in  the  peach,  they  only 
destroy,  they  do  not  create.  This  was  in  1868. 

If  the  farmer  would  spend  a  portion  of  his  time  making 
cloth,  beet  or  maple  sugar  for  his  own  consumption,  there. 

(265) 


266  THE  LABORER; 

would  be  a  mighty  change — many  in  society  would  have  to 
toil.  The  corruptions  of  society  enable  thousands  to  live 
without  doing  any  work. 

Farmers  are  at  the  bottom  of  the  social  column.  When 
a  farmer  visits  a  large  city,  he  should  have  these  reflections : 
This  large  multitude  I  help  to  feed  and  find  in  clothing  ma- 
terials. What  do  I  gain  ?  Am  I  a  freeman  or  a  slave  ?  Why 
do  I  toil  so  incessantly?  The  unproductive  classes  become 
more  numerous  every  day.  The  farmers  do  not  increase 
in  proportion.  The  farmer,  by  selling  his  grain  and  grass, 
impoverishes  his  land.  Many  farms  in  New  England  which 
once  gave  thirty  bushels  of  wheat  to  an  acre,  now  only  give 
twelve.  The  wheat  was  eaten  in  cities,  and  wasted  so 
that  the  soil  was  not  fertilized.  In  the  same  manner  are  the 
Western  States  becoming  barren.  In  half  a  century  ster- 
ility will  prevail,  unless  prevented. 

The  ruins  of  cities  show  they  have  been  once  populous. 
Why  is  it  a  desert  around  them  ?  This  land  was  once  a 
woodland  covered  with  trees,  the  leaves  of  which  decay  and 
mixed  with  sand  form  the  soil.  What  has  taken  ages  to 
form  may  be  destroyed  in  a  generation — which  is  done  in 
this  manner.  The  soil  was  planted,  and  the  products  con- 
sumed in  cities,  which  are  on  river  banks.  Water  carries 
away  what  should  be  put  on  the  soil. 

A  Southern  journal  says :  u  Cotton  is  an  exhausting  crop  ; 
it  leaves  so  little  to  manure  the  soil.  Cotton  has  destroyed 
more  than  earthquakes  or  volcanoes.  South  Carolina  has 
produced  cotton,  to  the  last  dying  gasp,  till  the  soil  forbids 
cultivation,  and  is  turned  out  to  nature,  reminding  travelers 
of  the  dilapidated  condition  of  Greece." 

Thomas  Jefferson  said :  "  Cultivators  of  the  earth  are 
the  most  valuable  citizens.  They  are  the  most  independ- 
ent, the  most  virtuous,  and  they  are  tied  to  their  country, 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  267 

and  wedded  to  its  liberties  and  interests,  by  the  most  lasting 
bonds.  As  long,  therefore,  as  they  can  find  employment 
in  this  line,  I  would  not  convert  them  into  artisans,  mari- 
ners, or  any  thing  else.  Our  citizens  will  find  employment 
in  this  line  till  their  numbers,  and  of  course  their  produc- 
tions, become  too  great  for  the  demand,  both  internal  and 
foreign.  This  is  not  the  case  as  yet,  and  probably  will  not 
be  for  a  considerable  time.  As  soon  as  the  surplus  of  hands 
must  be  turned  into  something  else,  I  should  then,  perhaps, 
turn  them  into  the  sea,  in  preference  to  manufactures.  I 
consider  this  class  of  artificers  as  the  panderers  to  vice,  and 
the  instruments  by  which  the  liberties  of  a  country  are  gen- 
erally overturned.  However,  we  are  not  at  liberty  to  decide 
this  question  on  principle  of  theory  only.  Our  people  are 
decided  in  the  opinion  that  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  take  a 
share  in  the  ocean.  I  think  it  is  a  duty  in  those  intrusted  with 
the  administration  of  affairs,  to  conform  themselves  to  the 
decided  choice  of  their  constituents  j  and  that,  therefore,  we 
should,  in  every  instance,  preserve  an  equality  of  right  to 
them,  in  the  transportation  of  commodities,  in  the  right  of 
fishing,  and  the  other  uses  of  the  sea.  But  what  will  be 
the  consequence?  Frequent  wars,  beyond  a  doubt!" 

Mr.  Jefferson  never  ceased  to  believe  only  in  simple,  rural 
life — moderation  in  living — daily  toil ;  and  no  greater  aggre- 
gation of  human  beings  than  is  to  be  found  in  the  family  on 
each  farm.  He  was  opposed  to  the  building  of  a  Federal 
town  for  the  seat  of  government. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  father  who  owns  a  farm,  to  leave  it 
for  all  future  time  to  his  descendants.  Why  should  the  father, 
who  has  felled  trees,  dug  up  stumps,  drained  marshes,  cul- 
tivated hedges,  planted  orchards,  and  erected  the  home  with 
its  green  lawns,  graveled  walks,  flowering  shrubbery,  and 
climbing  grape  vines — why  should  all  this,  at  the  father's 


268  THE  LABORER; 

death,  pass  into  the  hands  of  strangers  ?  It  is  better  that  the 
offspring  should  bless  the  parent  or  ancestor  for  his  industry, 
than  a  stranger  should  rejoice  in  having  obtained  a  posses- 
sion for  a  small  bale  of  paper  money.  When  an  estate  is 
sold,  many  a  tree  and  shrub,  brick  and  nail,  is  not  paid  for. 
The  purchaser  hardly  ever  pays  the  full  value. 

Mr.  Wilkinson  P ,  of  Miami  Co.,  Ohio,  told  the 

writer,  when  stopping  with  him,  as  a  school-teacher,  that  he 
"bought  his  farm,  containing  130  acres,  for  $3.00  an  acre, 
and  he  paid  for  it  by  driving  cattle,  for  thirty-three  cents 
and  a  third  of  a  cent  for  a  day."  He  then  got  married  and 
had  seven  children.  Said  he:  "I  calculate  to  give  my  boys, 
when  twenty  one,  100  acres  each,  and  the  youngest  is  to 
have  the  home  farm."  This  he  has  done,  and  he  gave  his 
daughter  for  a  marriage  portion  $2,000.  Since  he  started 
them  in  life,  he  has  saved  for  each  $2,000.  From  this  farm 
this  father  has  saved,  in  forty  years,  $30,000 ;  perhaps  more. 
This  family  had  every  luxury.  This  farmer  had  a  way  of 
increasing  or  multiplying  his  money,  by  interest,  which  is  a 
plan  of  getting  from  others.  His  conscience  did  not  see  it 
was  wrong,  and  he  may  be  forgiven.  This  case  proves  that 
the  home  should  be  in  the  family  as  a  monument  after  death, 
and  a  fountain  of  supplies,  for  the  members  of  the  family  to 
draw  from  while  creating  a  new  home.  These  boys  were 
put  to  work  at  proper  age  and  earned  their  farms.  Some  of 
them  understand  algebra  and  the  sciences.  These  boys 
cleared  their  own  land. 

The  writer,  became  acquainted,  in  Clinton  Co.,  111.,  with 
seven  brothers  of  the  name  of  Sharp.  Their  father  taught 
them  to  farm,  and  then  gave  each  100  acres  of  land.  One 
brother  now  has  500  acres,  and  is  a  local  preacher;  the  ex- 
cess of  food  his  sons,  tenantry,  and  himself  make  will  keep 
his  congregation  150  persons  all  the  year.  One  has  the  home. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  269 

In  Sweden  the  youngest  son  takes  the  homestead  and 
keeps  the  parents ;  the  surplus  goes  to  supply  the  others. 
A  division  takes  place  where  the  estate  is  large. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  the  time  will  come  when  men  will  be- 
lieve again  it  is  sinful  to  take  interest,  and  that  the  laboring 
men  will  be  their  own  merchants.  If  justice  had  been  done 
to  society,  it  would  be  the  owner  of  all  the  turnpikes  and 
railroads.  If  such  a  period  should  ever  come,  men  would 
have  to  build  their  own  homes.  It  is  from  these  sources 
that  wealth  is  obtained  that  enables  men  to  buy  costly 
homes. 

There  are  three  sources  that  impoverish  a  farmer's  lands: 
The  first  is  to  buy  the  land  on  credit,  and  pay  for  it  by  sell- 
ing its  crops ;  the  second  is  to  sell  crops  to  pay  the  taxes ; 
the  third  is  to  sell  crops  to  buy  shoddy  cloth.  If  these 
drains  on  the  land  were  to  cease,  a  greater  number  of  the 
farmer's  children  might  find  support  from  the  soil.  Two 
of  these  will  be  done  away  with  when  men  know  their  po- 
litical rights;  the  latter  when  men  discipline  their  mechan- 
ical faculties. 

To  buy  cloth  abroad  introduces  the  evils  of  cities.  Says 
Bismark :  u  Large  cities  are  in  the  highest  degree  obnoxious 
to  the  welfare  of  nations."  This  fact  should  make  the  far- 
mer, joined  with  others,  resolve  to  possess  some  simple  and 
cheap  twisting  and  weaving  machinery.  Porter,  in  his  "  Pro- 
gress of  the  British  Nation,"  says :  "A  curious  trade  has  of 
late  years  sprung  up,  that  of  importing  rags  for  the  purpose 
of  re-manufacture.  These  are  assorted,  torn  up,  and  twisted 
with  wool  of  a  low  quality,  and  inferior  cloth  is  made  from 
the  mixture." 

The  farmers,  in  olden  times,  supported  many  scholars. 
Wm.  Godwin,  in  his  " Enquirer,"  says:  "About  the  fif- 
teenth century  the  human  mind  began  to  shake  off  its  slum- 


270  THE  LABORER; 

bers.  The  principal  causes  of  the  revival  of  learning  was 
the  study  of  the  classics  [writings  of  the  ancients].  The 
desire  of  rescuing  the  ancient  manuscripts  from  oblivion 
engaged  the  attention  of  kings  and  princes.  It  was  consid- 
ered the  most  important  task  in  which  they  could  be  en- 
gaged. Hence  they  did  not  scruple  to  appropriate  the  re- 
sources of  the  nation  for  this  purpose.  Scholars  went  from 
country  to  country,  with  the  hope  of  obtaining  classical 
manuscripts.  The  recovery  of  one  was  the  cause  of  as  great 
a  triumph  as  if  battles  had  been  won,  or  nations  plundered. 
To  illustrate  these,  authors  and  scholars  arose,  and  consid- 
ered it  an  honored  task  to  translate  and  comment  on  them, 
to  remove  their  obscurities,  so  that  the  Greek  and  Roman 
writers  could  be  understood  and  their  beauties  admired." 

At  the  present  time  it  is  the  duty  of  all  to  become  learned. 
The  ancient  classics  are  translated,  why  should  men  go  to 
a  large  building  to  learn  to  read  them.  The  time  spent  at 
this  would  open  a  new  farm.  This  course  must  make  men 
poor.  If  they  escape  poverty  it  is  a  loss  to  others.  The  col- 
leges would  make  nice  homes  for  aged  women  who  are 
homeless.  In  a  single  year  [1867],  Harvard  College  had 
gifts  to  the  amount  of  $475,000.  George  Peabody  gave 
$150,000  for  archaeological  [the  science  of  antiquities]  and 
ethnological  [a  science  on  the  different  races  of  men]  pur- 
poses. 

How  much  more  it  would  add  to  the  happiness  of  men 
if  this  sum  were  spent  in  industrial  schools  for  the  poor.  It 
is  difficult  for  boys  to  get  places,  as  wood  and  iron  can  be 
made  to  do  their  work.  The  boys  in  the  "Ohio  Reform 
School'*  spend  half  of  their  time  at  learning,  the  other  at 
making  their  shoes  and  clothing.  They  are  taught  to  ob- 
tain their  own  food ;  what  is  left  is  sold.  The  farmers  are 
in  need  of  such  a  school,  where  their  children  can  learn  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  271 

use  of  tools.  How  few  farmers  there  are  who  can  file  saws 
or  put  an  edge  on  steel  tools.  Every  farmer  should  be  able  to 
keep  his  machines  in  repair,  and  for  this  purpose  mechanical 
colleges  should  be  built.  There  seems  to  be  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  authorities,  to  start  such  schools.  If  arch- 
itecture and  some  of  the  ologies  'are  taught,  it  will  be  of  no 
benefit  to  those  who  labor. 

C.  B.  Boynton,  in  his  book,  on  Russia,  says:  "A  farm 
of  700  acres  had  been  laid  out,  under  the  direction  of  the 
government,  and  on  the  premises  an  agricultural  school  had 
been  established,  where  both  the  theory  and  the  practice  of 
agriculture  are  taught  to  200  peasants.  An  extensive  mu- 
seum is  attached  to  this  farm,  containing  whatever  relates 
to  the  occupation  of  a  farmer,  including  all  descriptions  of 
agricultural  implements,  even  to  the  finest  breeds  of  cattle,. 
Model  cottages  are  introduced.  Each  province  is  allowed 
to  send  annually  a  certain  number  to  the  school.  In  each 
year  fifty  graduates  are  distributed  through  the  country  after 
having  obtained  a  four-years'  course.  The  pupils  are  taught 
blacksmithing,  carpenter  work,  cooperage,  tailoring,  shoe- 
making,  cabinet-making,  and  agricultural  implement  making. 
Connected  with  this  school  is  a  brickyard,  a  pottery,  a  tan- 
yard,  and  a  windmill.  Each  graduate  gets  a  farm  and  a 
1,000  roubles  [$750]  to  stock  it.  The  pupil  is  encouraged 
to  carry  out  these  theories  and  teach  others." 

This  is  a  model  for  the  Americans.  If  they  should  teach 
the  fine  arts,  only  a  few  will  enjoy  them.  The  poor  do  not 
see  a  painting  often.  These  mechanical  colleges  at  present 
are  supported  by  the  sale  of  wild  lands.  The  Government 
gives  a  State  100,000  acres,  and  it  is  sold  for  ten  dollars  an 
acre,  the  amount  will  be  $1,000,000.  A  poor  laborer  has 
accumulated  $800,  by  the  most  painful  saving,  such  as  ab- 
stinence from  the  best  food  and  clothing,  or  doing  without 


272  THE  LABORER; 

books  and  papers.  This  laborer,  to  obtain  eighty  acres,  has 
to  give  his  savings.  It  will  take  1,250  laborers  to  purchase 
this  land.  Can  any  humane  man  say  it  is  just  and  right  that 
these  laborers  should  suffer  so  much  to  found  or  endow  a 
school  like  this.  These  laborers  have  to  endure  painful  toil 
to  clear  and  fence  this  land.  They  get  the  lowest  pay,  and 
it  is  a  wrong  to  embarrass  them,  the  most  useful  class,  by 
such  unequal  burdens  which  are  not  imposed  on  the  other 
classes.  To  save  this  sum  will  take  a  laborer  eight  to  ten 
years.  Statesmen  and  speculators  do  not  build  the  school- 
houses  and  churches  that  surround  this  unimproved  land ;  it 
is  the  settlers  who  make  this  land  desirable,  for  which  they 
ask  nothing,  and  are  glad  to  see  one  who  will  help  them  to 
build  these.  The  mechanical  colleges  should  be  paid  for  by 
the  State,  and  the  tuition  by  the  pupil. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  farmer  to  educate  his  children,  so 
as  to  go  through  the  world  with  ease  and  comfort,  without 
care  and  anxiety.  The  parents  of  the  child  should  hear  it 
say  its  letters  at  three  years  of  age,  which  will  take  ten 
minutes  in  the  day.  At  four,  it  will  be  able  to  read  an  easy 
lesson.  At  this  age  the  child  can  be  taught  to  form  let- 
ters on  a  small  blackboard,  resting  on  the  lap.  Chalk  is 
used,  and  this  should  be  the  first  lesson,  aaaaaaa\  this 
is  the  second,  bbbbbbb;  this  is  the  third,  c  c  c  c  c  c  c. 
When  the  child  has  made  eight  letters,  then  give  it  this  for 
a  copy,  abed  efg  b.  The  remaining  letters  form  two  copies. 


This  is  the  last  copy.    The  child  should  practice  on  a  till  it 
can  make  it  perfect,  and  make  it  without  seeing  the  copy. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  273 

The  writer  learned  this  mode  of  teaching  writing  by  ac- 
cident. In  1858,  the  Government  offered,  in  Missouri,  a 
piece  of  land,  one  mile  long  and  half  a  mile  wide,  for  forty 
dollars.  I  went  to  Crawford  Co.  to  see  it.  The  land  was 
hilly,  and  covered  with  small  oaks.  In  the  little  valleys 
and  creek  bottom  were  opened  farms.  I  was  offered,  by 
Wm.  Keys,  fifty  dollars  in  gold  to  teach  school  ten  weeks. 
The  school-house  had  no  windows.  A  log  was  left  out  to 
admit  the  light.  In  the  loft  were  some  boards ;  with  them  I 
made  a  row  of  desks,  and  a  blackboard  6  by  3  feet.  This  I 
put  on  two  poles,  having  on  them  a  little  fork,  and  placed  it 
against  the  ugly  fireplace,  after  filling  it  with  green  branches. 
There  were  some  pieces  of  boards  left ;  these  I  thought 
would,  if  planed  and  blackened,  make  a  substitute  for  slates. 
I  found  out  what  books  were  wanting  as  near  as  I  could.  I 
was  about  to  start  to  Steelville,  fifteen  miles  distant,  on  foot 
to  purchase  them,  when  Mr.  Keys  offered  me  a  horse  to 
ride.  This  act  gave  me  some  surprise,  as  he  had  only 
known  me  five  days.  I  can  only  account  for  this,  that  he 
did  not  know  what  crime  was,  as  it  is  unknown  in  far-off 
rural  districts.  I  purchased,  among  other  books,  some  men- 
tal arithmetics.  Said  I  to  a  druggist,  "Let  me  have  two 
pounds  of  chalk."  Said  he,  CCI  have  none."  I  said  to  him, 
with  a  feeling  of  disappointment,  "What  shall  I  do?  I  am 
going  to  hold  a  school,  and  I  can  not  teach  without  chalk." 
Said  the  druggist,  "Your  scholars  will  find  plenty  of  chalk 
in  the  hills." 

I  had  the  children  of  twelve  families  to  teach.  I  had  to 
"board  around."  Sometimes  I  had  to  go  four  miles  to  the 
farthest  family,  in  a  lonely  path,  with  no  houses  on  it,  and 
liable  to  meet  a  wolf  on  the  road.  Seven  of  the  fathers  of 
these  families  could  read,  five  write,  and  two  cipher.  I 
gathered  the  oldest  scholars  around  my  large  blackboard, 


274  THE  LABORER; 

and  showed  them  how  addition  was  done,  and  what  it  was 
for,  and  then  got  them  to  do  the  same.  In  five  weeks  I  got 
some  of  them  through  long  division.  I  then  showed  them 
how  numbers  were  to  be  used  to  find  out  the  price  of  ar- 
ticles. I  considered  for  what  purposes  they  wanted  arith- 
metic, and  drilled  them  in  those  examples  that  they  needed. 
I  found  out  that  nearly  all  could  make  the  alphabet  in  chalk, 
from  memory  in  a  month.  I  then  gave  them  an  easy  copy 
on  their  blackboards,  which  was  afterward  put  on  paper,  in 
a  neat  manner.  Writing  was  learned  without  pot-hooks  or 
straight  marks. 

There  was  a  man  who  persuaded  two  of  the  directors  that 
I  was  not  teaching  arithmetic  right,  so  I  was  discharged  at 
the  end  of  eight  weeks.  This  man  wanted  his  son  to  be  the 
teacher.  On  the  last  day  of  school  the  circuit  preacher  was 
to  preach  at  one  o'clock.  There  was  also  to  be  a  wedding. 
I  showed  how  well  my  charge  could  read.  I  then  caused 
them  to  write  on  the  blackboard  the  alphabet.  I  showed 
their  copy-books.  I  then  asked  the  Presbyterian  minister 
to  examine  some  of  them  in  interest,  single  rule  of  three, 
and  in  such  problems  as  would  occur  in  life.  I  had  some 
boys  who  stepped  up  to  the  blackboard  and  showed  to  their 
parents,  what  they  never  saw  before,  how  the  value  of  their 
butter  was  obtained  at  so  much  a  pound,  the  worth  of  a  farm 
when  the  price  per  acre  was  given,  and  also  the  amount  of 
a  note.  I  kindly  advise  farmers  to  give  this  order  to  a  pat- 
tern-maker or  cabinet-maker. 

Mr. .      Please  plane  for  me,  on  both  sides,  a  piece  of  board  six 

inches  wide,  eighteen  inches  long,  and  half  an  inch  thick.  Let  the  wood  be 
poplar.  Black-walnut  or  pine  will  do.  Varnish  it  with  shellac  varnish  and 
lamp-black.  Set  your  gauge  one  inch  and  a  half,  and  gauge  from  each  edge. 

Parents,  with  this  experiment  of  mine,  can  not  fail  to  teach 
their  children  to  write  in  a  rapid  manner.  If  shellac  is  not 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  275 

to  be  had,  lamp-black,  water  and  glue  will  answer  to  paint 
the  board.  The  gauge  lines  are  made  after  the  board  is 
painted.  Parents  do  not  know  how  easy  it  is  to  teach  their 
children.  If  the  teacher  has  thirty-six  scholars,  he  gives  to 
each  scholar  ten  minutes  of  his  time  during  the  day.  The 
parent  spending  this  time  every  day  in  the  year  will  make 
better  scholars.  If  the  mother  will  take  her  needle-work, 
and  make  her  child  sit  on  a  low  stool,  with  its  back  to  her, 
she  can  hear  and  see  the  lesson,  and  lose  no  time.  Only 
a  few  statesmen  can  spell  well.  Many  scholars  are  defi- 
cient in  orthography,  in  the  "  nature  and  power  of  letters, 
and  the  just  method  of  spelling  words."  The  country 
teacher  does  not  stop  to  analyze  words,  to  accent  syllables, 
to  give  the  varied  sounds  of  letters,  or  to  modulate  the 
voice  in  reading.  The  school-books  now  are  progressive, 
and  adapted  to  all  capacities  of  youth,  which  the  mother 
can  easily  teach.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  mother  to  teach  her 
child  that  six  added  to  six  makes  twelve,  and  three  times 
five  makes  fifteen.  It  is  her  duty  to  teach  the  difference 
between  nouns  and  pronouns,  verbs  and  adverbs.  If  the 
mother  will  try  she  will  be  equal  to  the  task,  and  quite  an 
adept  at  teaching  that  which  is  difficult.  It  is  her  duty  to 
begin  at  three  years  of  age  and  teach  to  seven  then  if  the 
child  goes  to  school,  it  can  sit  on  a  bench  without  a  back 
and  its  feet  will  touch  the  floor. 

It  will  be  difficult  to  tell  what  might  have  been  the  con- 
sequences if  the  Wesleys  had  not  been  taught  by  their 
mother.  Watts,  the  poet,  could  read  Latin  at  four  years  of 
age.  Watt,  the  improver  of  the  steam-engine,  at  six  could 
work  the  problems  of  Euclid.  Two  of  these  lived  to  see 
eighty  years,  the  others  not  quite  that  age. 

NOTE. -Wilson,  Hinkle  &  Co.,  Walnut  St.,  Cin.,  publish  school-books  on  every 
subject.  These  begin  with  the  primary,  and  go  up  to  that  which  is  difficult.  t 


276  THE  LABORER; 

Wm.  Cobbett  says:  "I  do  not  remember  when  I  did 
not  earn  my  living.  My  first  occupation  was  driving  away 
the  birds  from  the  turnip  field.  My  next  employment  was 
harrowing  barley  with  a  single  horse.  This  was  followed  by 
hoeing  peas,  reaping  wheat,  and  plowing.  My  father  said : 
'  He  had  four  boys,  the  oldest  fifteen,  and  they  did  as  much 
work  as  any  three  men  in  the  parish  of  Farnham.'  In  the 
winter  evenings  my  father  taught  us  all  to  read  and  write, 
and  gave  us  a  good  knowledge  of  arithmetic  and  grammer." 
This  man  never  was  at  any  school.  He  earned  $100,000  by 
his  pen.  He  wrote  100  books  to  the  working  people,  to 
get  them  to  throw  off  their  slavish  chains. 

The  school-teachers  of  Cincinnati,  in  1866  were  paid 
$556,348.  Each  scholar  costs  annually  $12.00.  If  par- 
ents would  instruct  their  infant  children,  half  of  this  might 
be  saved  for  an  industrial  school.  Parents  should  think  the 
school-fund  is  often  taken  from  those  who  do  not  need  its 
benefits.  They  should  save  it  as  much  as  possible.  Farmers 
are  not  sure  their  children  will  be  scholars.  I  was  in  Illi- 
nois, a  farmer  and  his  boys  were  around  a  heap  of  corn 
shelling  it.  I  said  to  the  boys  :  u  If  a  person  can  do  a  piece 
of  work  in  two  days,  and  another  in  three  days,  how  long 
would  it  take  both  working  together? "  They  could  not  tell. 
The  mother  and  daughter  were  teachers,  and  could  not  tell. 
I  said :  "  One  can  do  half  of  the  work  in  a  day,  the  other  can 
do  one-third  in  a  day  :  if  you  add  one-third  and  one-half  to- 
gether, they  will  have  done  five-sixths  in  one  day,  and  the 
remaining  sixth  will  take  one-fifth  of  the  next  day."  Said 
the  boys,  "We  see  how  it  is  done." 

Parents  must  teach  their  children  to  think  and  reason.  It 
is  easy  to  do  it.  When  I  worked  at  clock-making  I  paid  a 
boy  $2.00  in  advance  to  teach  me  arithmetic.  I  had  my  first 
lesson  on  a  rock  where  he  was  fishing.  I  then  taught  myself. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  277 

The  farmer  must  be  a  thoughtful,  thinking  being,  or  he 
will  be  imposed  on.  When  the  people  were  counted  in 
1859,  it  was  ascertained  that  one  in  six  had  what  was  called 
an  occupation.  The  remaining  five-sixths  were  women 
and  those  under  twenty-one.  Half  of  the  nation  are  under 
twenty-one.  Half  of  the  nation  are  females.  Those  em- 
ployed were  5,700,000  and  occupied  as  named : 

Agriculturists 3,219,495 

Mechanics  and  manufacturers 480,905 

Day  laborers 969,000 

Servants 560,000 

Merchants I23,3?8 

Clerks 184,485 

Physicians  54,°°° 

Clergymen 37,000 

Lawyers 33>J93 

Many  of  the  last  six  classes  could  easily  be  more  profit- 
ably employed  at  something  else.  The  servants  alone  can 
produce  food  for  20,000,000  of  persons.  We  often  see 
them  at  the  most  frivolous  pursuits,  such  as  polishing  a  door- 
handle, waiting  on  idle  people,  or  driving  a  carriage,  when 
those  within  can  do  it  themselves.  It  is  a  great  pity  that 
men  with  minds,  capable  of  great  achievements,  should  be  en- 
gaged in  such  ignoble  employments.  The  poor  slave  once 
had  a  boundary  line  marked  out  for  him,  beyond  which  he 
could  not  go  without  permission ;  those  lines  were  those 
that  surrounded  the  farm  on  which  he  was  doomed  to  work. 
Did  he  see  the  man  who  was  free  do  his  servile  work?  his 
language  was  "poor  white  trash."  As  much  as  if  he  had 
said,  you  can  get  an  ax  and  a  spade  and  create  a  home  ;  sell- 
ing your  labor  makes  you  but  half  a  man  •,  you  are  midway 
between  a  freeman  and  a  slave.  Is  there  "no  independent 
wish  implanted  in  your  mind?"  Is  your  sense  of  enjoyment 
so  dull  that  you  should  be  content  with  rudeness  ?  Is  your 
25 


278  THE  LABORER; 

faculty  of  invention  so  poor  that  you  can  not  give  beauty 
and  form  to  the  materials  that  are  so  abundant  ?  Is  your  rea- 
son so  perverted  that  you  can  not  see  the  wrong  you  do  to 
yourself,  by  taking  so  scanty  a  share  of  your  toil  for  what 
you  endure  ?  Is  your  moral  sense  so  obtuse  that  you  can  not 
see  the  injustice  you  do  to  yourself,  by  letting  another  filch 
away  the  excess  of  labor  you  create,  which  is  given  to  paint- 
ers and  sculptors,  whose  creations  you  are  denied  the  poor 
consolation  of  seeing?  Our  African  had  these  conceptions. 
Some  men  were  trash,  who  could  be  removed  and  their  loss 
not  felt.  The  time  was  when  men  had  coats-of-arms  to  keep 
themselves  in  remembrance,  and  this  custom  still  exists. 
Some  might  adopt  this  device — a  chin  surmounted  by  razors 
sponges,  and  combs.  Waiters  can  use  an  arm  covered  with 
a  towel,  surrounded  by  blacking  brushes,  brooms,  and  dus- 
ters. Others  can  use  a  curry-comb  crossed  with  whips. 
This  table  shows  the  proportion  of  men's  pursuits. 

A  physician  to  every 600  people. 

A  clergyman  to  every 800.     ,, 

A  lawyer  to  every 1,000.     ,, 

A  merchant  to  every 250.      ,, 

A   manufacturer    to    every 65.     ,, 

A  farmer  to  every 10.     ,, 

In  1859,  the  value  of  the  wheat  crop  was  $223,000,000, 
the  corn  was  worth  $180,000,000,  the  hay  $200,000,000, 
the  butter  and  cheese  $i  10,000,000,  the  wool  $50,000,000, 
the  cotton  $200,000,000,  the  tobacco  $60,000,000,  the 
slaughtered  animals  $212,000,000,  the  sugar  $30,000,000. 
The  cotton,  woolen,  and  iron  manufactures  amounted  to 
$250,000,000  in  1859.  The  total  amount  of  this  labor  is 
$1,515,000,000.  This  quantity  will  keep  90,000,000  of 
persons.  This  appeared  in  the  daily  papers:  A  writer,  of 
the  name  of  Major  Huntley,  died  in  the  streets  of  Albany, 
of  actual  starvation.  He  left  a  wife  and  one  child. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  279 

A  mechanic  or  laborer,  who  resides  in  a  large  city,  and 
is  poor  when  he  marries,  the  probabilities  are  that  he  will  al- 
ways remain  homeless.  Those  who  get  homes  in  large  cities 
are  one  in  four.  The  only  plan  the  laborer  has  to  get  a 
home  is  to  remain  single  till  he  can  get  one.  The  Miami 
County  farmer  who  earned  $100  in  a  year,  did  not  marry 
till  he  accumulated  $400.  Had  he  married  without  get- 
ting a  home  on  the  land,  he  could  not  have  set  his  children 
to  work.  They  would  have  been  a  burden  to  him,  and  made 
him  unhappy.  The  children  of  a  city  poor  man  must  do 
any  thing  they  can  find  to  be  done.  After  waiting  months, 
perhaps  years,  for  something  " respectable"  to  work  at,  the 
boy  becomes  a  cigar-maker,  or  a  barber. 

When  a  poor  father  living  in  a  large  city  dies,  his  daugh- 
ters must  go  out  to  service,  and  work  from  five  o'clock  in 
the  morning  to  eight  in  the  evening,  and  then  sleep  in  a 
room  that  has  a  window  in  the  roof,  or  they  must  become 
sewing  girls,  to  make  fine  clothes  for  others,  while  they  are 
ragged.  The  only  remedy  is  for  men  to  go  in  companies 
to  the  wilderness  and  make  homes.  It  can  not  be  that  man, 
with  all  his  knowledge  must  be  poor.  It  is  what  we  do  that 
makes  us  poor.  In  Cincinnati  is  a  warehouse  that  has  four 
large  stone-brackets  over  the  door,  on  the  end  of  each  is  a 
huge  face.  The  carver  has  dug  the  eyes  out  of  two,  which 
makes  them  look  hideous.  To  dig  out  these  eyes  must 
have  cost  two  dollars,  which  would  give  some  poor  child  a 
pair  of  shoes.  Some  say  this  gives  work  to  mechanics.  It 
is  very  absurd  reasoning.  It  is  unnecessary  labor,  which, 
if  not  done,  society  would  be  just  as  well  off.  If  the  stone- 
carver  had  remained  idle,  he  would  not  have  destroyed  his 
clothes  or  consumed  as  much  food. 

A  man  has  money  in  his  house.  A  bad  man  goes  and 
takes  it,  for  which  he  is  arrested.  The  judge  says  to  him, 


280  THE  LABORER; 

u  Why  did  you  do  this  act  ?  "  The  reply  is,  "  I  wanted  to 
give  work  to  mechanics.  I  know  a  stone-cutter  who'wants 
to  make  for  me  some  stone  ornaments,  to  obtain  clothing 
for  his  family."  Says  the  judge:  "The  family  whom  you 
deprived  wanted  the  money  for  their  own  clothing.  You 
must  atone  for  your  fault,  by  confinement,  where  you  will 
be  taught  to  make  cloth.  Let  the  stone-cutter  get  a  loom, 
and  make  his  own  clothing,  and  society  will  be  gainers." 

There  are  in  society  men  who  get  large  quantities  of 
others'  labor  by  strange,  queer  ways  which  mankind,  some 
time  or  other,  will  find  out  is  wrong.  They  are  guilty  of 
the  folly  and  wickedness  of  putting  labor  in  the  wrong  place, 
thereby  causing  much  sorrow  and  misery.  There  is  no 
difference  between  building  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt  and 
some  of  our  modern  stores.  Both  have  caused  men  to  go 
hungry  and  ill-clad. 

One  of  the  boys  in  Missouri  to  whom  I  taught  arith- 
metic was  seventeen.  He  could  tan  and  dress  a  cow's  hide, 
make  the  leather  into  a  pair  of  boots.  The  hides  were 
tanned  in  a  hollow  log.  He  could  build  log-houses  and 
make  furniture.  I  felt  much  admiration  for  Mrs.  Keys 
when  I  saw  her  husband  in  a  black  suit  of  clothes,  all  wool, 
made,  spun,  cut,  and  dyed  with  her  own  hands.  Many 
families  make  blankets,  quilts,  sheets,  and  linen  for  old  age. 
It  would  fill  a  person  with  surprise  to  see  the  shelves  laden 
with  these  goods.  Their  mechanical  knowledge  was  very 
limited.  If  their  boys  could  have  learned  better  modes  of 
working  they  would  be  richer.  The  men  did  not  work 
more  than  four  hours  in  the  day  on  an  average.  They  used 
wooden  plows  with  a  piece  of  iron  on  the  point.  The 
young  people  had  never  seen  a  sofa,  brick  or  frame  house. 
If  you  set  this  people  to  making  stone  faces  and  foolish 
things,  families  will  freeze  to  death.  This  often  occurs. 


A   REMEDY  FOR   HIS  WRONGS.  281 

If  a  hundred  mechanics  will  form  a  community,  and  sub- 
scribe $20,000,  they  can  purchase  looms,  mill-stones,  saw- 
mills, wood-planing  machines,  wood  and  iron  turning  lathes, 
farming  tools,  and  a  steam  engine.  This  amount  will  also 
build  a  shop.  This  community, occupying  a  tract  of  land, 
will  escape  many  burdens,  and  their  children  will  never  do 
servile  work  for  others. 

The  Plymouth  pilgrims  made  a  contract,  that  they  should 
possess  all  things  in  common  for  seven  years,  after  that 
they  should  be  in  separate  families.  In  1650,  this  instruc- 
tion was  given  by  the  secretary  of  New  Netherlands  to  the 
people  how  they  should  build  houses:  u  Dig  cellars  six  or 
seven  feet  deep,  and  as  long  as  is  necessary.  To  keep 
the  earth  from  caving,  fasten  bark  on  the  sides,  and  cover 
the  floor  with  plank.  Take  spars  for  the  roof,  and  cover 
with  sods  and  bark."  This  was  the  mode  of  building  in 
New  England  at  first,  so  as  not  to  waste  time  in  procuring 
food.  In  the  course  of  three  or  four  years,  the  country 
became  better  adapted  to  agriculture,  and  then  better  houses 
were  built. 

"The  '•Oneida  Community'  has  been  established  twenty 
years,  and  consists  of  200  persons,  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, who  own  508  acres  of  good  land.  John  Noyes  organ- 
ized the  association.  They  believe  the  Bible  is  the  Spirit 
of  Truth.  For  tea  and  coffee  substitutes  are  found.  Tobac- 
co and  ardent  spirits  are  not  allowed.  The  sexes  generally 
room  apart.  As  far  as  their  means  allow,  every  man  and 
woman  has  a  private  room,  with  furniture  and  library. 

"There  are  twenty  departments  in  business.  Each  per- 
son works  at  that  for  which  he  is  fit.  They  make  satchels, 
carpet  and  traveling  bags,  mouse  and  bear  traps,  and  sew- 
ing silk.  They  are  wholesale  dealers  in  silk.  They  can 
immense  quantities  of  fruit.  Their  orchard  contains  fifty 


282  THE  LABORER; 

acres,  and  it  is  full  of  strawberries,  blackberries,  grapes,  ap- 
ples, pears,  and  plums.  Their  barns  and  stables  are  large. 
The  grounds  are  handsomely  laid  out  in  walks  and  drives. 
The  house  is  three  stories  high,  and  300  feet  long,  with 
two  wings.  They  have  a  large  hall,  in  which  is  held  con- 
certs, lectures,  and  occasional  dancing.  They  have  a  band 
of  music.  The  government  is  general  persuasion  and  par- 
ticular criticism.  In  sickness,  "  faith  and  nature  "  is  prefer- 
red to  medicine.  Time  has  softened  the  virtuous  indigna- 
tion they  endured.  They  now  live  on  good  terms  with  their 
neighbors.  Their  belief  makes  them  quiet  and  industrious, 
and  mind  their  own  business.  At  the  age  of  two,  the  chil- 
dren are  given  up  to  be  taken  care  of  en  masse.  At  twelve 
they  mingle  with  the  others.  The  capital  of  two  commu- 
nities is  $254,568.  A  large  portion  of  the  women  are  not 
very  attractive.  The  men  are  thoughtful,  with  a  tendency 
to  reading.  Their  library  contains  2,500  books.* 

In  1817,  some  Wurtemburgers,  for  not  fully  believing  the 
doctrines  of  Luther,  had  to  leave  that  city.  UA  'Friend* 
let  them  have,  in  Tuscarawas,  Co.,  O.,  5,500  acres  of  land 
at  $3.00  an  acre,  and  sixteen  years  to  pay  it.  After  they 
had  tried  other  usual  plans,  in  1819  they  became  a  social 
community  in  the  strictest  sense — a  co-operation,  where  the 
strong  should  support  the  weak,  and  there  be  no  wants  that 
united  effort  can  not  relieve.  They  elected  a  secretary  and 
treasurer.  There  are  300  persons ;  they  elect  three  trustees 
to  serve  them  three  years,  who  subject  all  their  business  to  a 
committee  of  five.  They  own  thirty-three  dwellings,  a  saw, 
flour,  and  woolen  mill.  The  flower  garden  in  the  center 
of  the  village  contains  a  hot-house.  They  milk  TOO  cows, 
and  make  7,000  pounds  of  butter  in  a  year.  Fifty  families 
get  their  milk  and  butter  from  the  milk-house.  The  ma- 
*  Cincinnati  Times,  July  25,  1866. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  283 

terials  for  wearing  apparel  are  kept  in  the  "magazine,"  and 
given  out  by  the  housewife  to  each  family  on  application. 
Each  family  draws  bread  from  the  bake-house,  and  sends 
their  washing  to  the  public  wash-house.  They  are  of  the 
opinion  that  too  much  book-learning  is  not  good  for  people 
of  their  habits.  They  have  a  school  teacher  among  them, 
and  also  a  flock  of  1,500  sheep.  The  Justice  of  the 
Peace  performs  the  marriage  ceremony.  They  meet  for 
worship  twice  on  a  Sunday,  and  sing,  and  hear  a  sermon 
read.  No  public  prayers. 

"•They  seem  ignorant  of  social  life.  They  work  hard,  and 
idleness  is  entirely  unknown.  The  children  begin  working 
as  soon  as  old  enough, and  their  life,  from  the  'cradle  to  the 
grave,'  seems  an  endless  routine  of  labor.  Few  ever  see 
any  money.  Their  wants  are  supplied  out  of  a  common 
fund.  There  are  no  rich  or  poor ;  all  are  equal,  and  laboring 
for  a  common  cause.  Many  of  them  are  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  world,  or  any  thing  pertaining  to  it;  many  never 
having  been  three  miles  from  home.  Having  little  care  or 
anxiety,  living  a  moral  and  industrious  life,  they  are  long- 
lived  and  healthy.  No  record  is  kept  of  the  food  and  cloth- 
ing consumed.  Their  wants  are  few,  and  supplied  from  the 
store-house.  Beyond  this  they  desire  nothing.  They  use  no 
tobacco.  Sometimes  they  drink  native  wines.  Their  land 
and  buildings  are  worth  $1,500,000,  which  makes  the  share 
of  each  man,  woman,  and  child  to  be  $5,000.  They  wear 
blue  fabrics  of  their  own  making.  The  women  wear  blue 
stuff  gowns,  short  and  scant.  To  them  pomp  and  display 
is  nothing  but  vanity.  Devoid  of  ambition  or  fame,  ignor- 
ant of  the  ways  and  wickedness  of  the  world,  they  journey 
through  life,  without  the  many  disappointed  hopes  and 
blasted  expectations  that  the  people  of  this  world  suffer."* 

*  Cincinnati  Commercial,  August  3,  1867. 


284  THE  LABORER; 

"The  Shakers  owe  their  origin  to  the  teachings  of  Ann 
Lee,  who  founded  this  sect  a  few  years  before  our  Revolu- 
tion. A  settlement  of  them,  near  Lexington,  Ky.,  contains 
400  persons,  and  they  own  5,600  acres  of  land.  No  rich 
or  poor  are  to  be  seen  in  their  village.  All  their  lands,  cat- 
tle, horses,  and  sheep  are  held  in  common.  "The  house 
which  we  were  shown  was  a  model  of  neatness.  The  great 
wide  hall  was  as  cool  as  an  iceberg,  with  its  narrow  strip  of 
carpet,  and  painted  floor,  which  was  scoured  till  it  glistened. 
All  the  furniture  was  home-made.  The  bottoms  of  the  old- 
fashioned,  high-backed  chairs  were  woven  out  of  narrow 
strips  of  white,  black,  brown,  and  green  woolen  cloth,  and 
looked  very  beautiful  indeed.  The  stove  shone  like  a  mir- 
ror, and  the  tongs,  shovel,  and  wisp  hung  neatly  by  its  side. 
Curtains  of  snowy  muslin  shaded  the  windows.  Order  and 
cleanliness  prevailed  every-where.  They  kept  up  their  so- 
ciety by  adopting  children,  of  whom  one  in  six  stay  to  live 
a  life  of  celibacy  and  holiness."* 

The  moulders  of  Louisville  have  an  association  for  get- 
ting high  wages.  When  they  forbid  others  to  work  for  the 
employers,  and  say  that  these  shall  have  only  one  appren- 
tice to  ten  workmen,  they  do  what  they  have  no  power  to 
do.  Men  are  free.  If  one  class  of  mechanics  combine  to 
raise  their  wages,  the  other  should  do  the  same  to  be  equal. 
If  the  stove  moulders  combine,  the  stoves  must  sell  high, 
and  less  will  be  sold.  If  the  moulder  has  to  pay  the  car- 
penter the  increased  rate  of  wages,  he  will  see  the  absurdity 
of  "strikes."  The  injury  workmen  do  to  themselves  by 
strikes  is  to  see  their  work  done  somewhere  else.  Strikes 
diminish  the  employer's  capital,  his  machinery  goes  to  ruin  ; 
and,  after  a  strike,  the  employers  use  fewer  workmen,  and 
do  not  employ  the  leaders.  A  strike,  many  years  ago,  in 

*  Cincinnati  Commercial,  July,  1867. 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  285 

England,  among  the  cotton-cloth  workers,  made  one  em- 
ployer gather  up  his  machinery  and  start  it  in  this  country. 
A  strike  in  England,  among  weavers,  in  1830,  led  to  the  in- 
vention of  the  self-acting  loom.  A  strike  among  pit  saw- 
yers caused  the  universal  introduction  of  steam-driven  saws 
all  over  England.  This  was  fortunate  for  the  consumer,  not 
so  for  the  sawyer.  A  moulder  in  Louisville  struck  a  man 
down,  and  left  him  dying,  for  not  working  for  the  price  he 
dictated.  The  bricklayers  of  New  York  City,  in  1868, 
made  an  unprofitable  strike.  When  they  did  go  to  work,  it 
was,  perhaps,  on  some  gorgeous  mansion,  an  unnecessary 
store,  or  an  expensive  stable.  When  their  work  was  done 
many  of  them  went  to  eat  and  sleep  in  a  place  not  fit  for 
a  habitation.  Striking  mechanics  seem  to  forget,  they  in- 
crease the  difficulties  of  employers  to  get  work  for  them. 

A  wood-chopper  hauls  wood  to  town  for  $3.00  a  cord. 
Another  wood-chopper  says  to  him,  let  us  have  $5.00  for  a 
cord,  which  we  can  bring  about  by  combining,and  not  let- 
ting boys  learn  the  work.  This  would  lessen  the  amount  of 
wood,  and  cause  the  bricklayers  to  shiver.  The  mechanic 
who  would  forbid  a  poor  boy  from  learning  a  useful  trade, 
has  not  much  feeling,  and  would  make  a  detestable  tyrant. 
If  mechanics  will  practice  the  industry  and  simplicity  of  the 
"Zoarites"  and  "  Rappites,"  *  they  can  not  consume  the 
food  nor  wear  out  the  clothing  they  can  create.  Some  can 
do  more  than  others,  and  should  have  more  pay.  Hugh 
Miller,  in  his  "School  and  School-masters,"  tells  us  of  a  man 
who  asked  for  some  stone-cutting.  The  foreman  said,  "Can 
you  hew  a  column/'  He  replied,  "I  think  I  can  do  it." 
On  Monday  he  took  a  chip  of  his  stone,  and  went  a  little 

Zoar  is  the  name  of  the  village  in  which  the  Ohio  community  live. 
Jacob  Rapp,  a  German,  with  his  followers,  in  Beaver  Co.,  Penn.,  created  mill- 
ions of  wealth,  in  the  form  of  farms,  mills,  and  stores.  They  are  Communists. 


286  THE  LABORER; 

distance  and  looked  at  it.  Tuesday  he  trifled  away.  The 
strange  Highlander  on  Wednesday  began  to  work  in  earn- 
est. The  others  ceased  to  laugh  at  him.  On  Thursday,  at 
noon,  he  was  even  with  them;  the  laugh  was  on  the  other 
side.  He  had  done  as  much  as  they  had.  On  Friday  night 
his  column  was  done.  The  others  had  a  hard  day's  work  to 
do.  When  paid,  he  said  "I  can  hew  a  column."  Mr. 
Miller  said  his  uncle  could  build  more  stone  wall  than  his 
two  nephews,  who  worked  as  hard  as  they  could.  This 
proves  that  societies  can  not  fix  a  uniform  rate  for  other's 
wages.  Some  have  more  skill  than  others. 

Two  of  the  Harpers,  in  early  life,  worked  sixteen  hours 
a  day,  which  has  caused  them  to  own  the  largest  publish- 
ing house  in  this  country.  Their  ambition  is  to  supply  us 
with  good  and  cheap  books.  Some  printers  earn  thirty-five 
cents  an  hour  at  their  labor.  There  are  others  who  endure 
the  fierce  heat,  the  bitter  cold,  and  work  for  twenty  cents 
an  hour.  There  are  boys  who  wish  to  be  earning  some- 
thing. If  the  Harpers  choose  to  employ  these,  if  they  can 
be  taught  to  do  the  work,  who  has  the  right  to  interfere. 
The  employing  shoe-makers  of  Linn,  and  the  shop-owning 
clock-makers  of  Winstead,  work  all  the  unskilled  labor 
they  can  by  a  division  of  labor,  which  gives  to  printers  and 
bricklayers  cheap  shoes  and  clocks.  Why  should  the  men 
who  do  the  severe  work  have  the  least  amount  of  comfort  ? 
All  men  are  alike ;  all  should  have  an  equal  share  of  the 
earth  and  its  comforts. 

This  fact  shows  that  strikes  accomplish  nothing.  "The 
Scotch  miners'  strike  was  the  most  extensive  and  bitterly 
contested  in  Scotland.  40,000  men  were  engaged  in  it. 
The  loss  of  wages  was  $2,500,000.  The  men  have  re- 
turned to  their  work  under  a  very  gloomy  mood  and  a  burn- 
ing sense  of  injustice." — London  paper,  1856. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  287 

English  workmen  have  a  way  worthy  of  our  imitation. 
In  March,  1849,  a  few  pianoforte  makers  commenced  with 
a  capital  of  $500.  They  went  on  increasing  their  business, 
till  they  were  worth  $10,000. 

In  August,  1848,  fourteen  workmen,  with  a  capital  of 
$550,  formed  the  "Fraternal  Association  of  Working  File 
makers."  Their  numbers  increased  to  forty-two,  and  they 
earned  a  fifth  more  than  their  wages. 

In  1843,  Mr-  Laclere,  of  France,  formed  partnerships 
with  his  workmen,  to  save  his  tools  and  materials.  Among 
fifty  workmen  he  divided  §3,500  in  a  year,  in  addition  to 
their  wages,  which  was  a  fifth. 

A  furniture  factory  in  Indianapolis,  containing  an  en- 
gine and  abundant  machinery,  is  owned  by  nineteen  work- 
men. This  shows  that  changes  are  made  which  will  be  ben- 
eficial to  the  working  people.  Many  different  trades  are 
thus  carried  on  in  England.  To  see  a  number  of  journey- 
men shoe-makers  or  tailors  in  a  town  suffering  a  person  to 
make  gains  from  their  labor  is  a  reproach  to  them. 

The  poor  mechanic  and  humble  laborer  often  feel  hum- 
bled, when  they  contrast  their  depressed  condition  with  that 
of  the  wealthy.  Some  roll  in  a  splendid  carriage,  driving 
helter  skelter  here  and  there,  while  they  trudge  on  foot. 
Some  have  a  pew  in  the  church,  in  which  to  show  their  silks 
and  satins,  and  to  listen  to  the  sweet  tones  of  the  organ,  as 
they  reverberate  among  groined  arches,  and  along  fretted 
aisles.  Some  are  covered  with  costly  laces,  silks  embroidered 
with  silver  and  gold,  or  ermine-trimmed  velvets  resplendent 
with  jewels.  To  see  a  person  thus  bedizened,  putting  on 
a  defiant  air  and  a  haughty  mien,  must  carry  to  the  mind 
of  that  poor  widow  a  sense  of  great  injustice. 

The  laborer  has  but  one  method  to  rise  above  his  condi- 
tion, and  that  is,  to  leave  such  people  to  serve  themselves. 


288  THE  LABORER; 

By  frugality  and  abstinence  from  marriage  till  a  start  is  ob- 
tained, a  home  will  be  secured.  The  writer  tried  to  sell  his 
manuscript  on  labor  to  six  publishers.  Not  one  had  the 
politeness  to  look  at  it.  After  much  thought,  I  purchased 
$43.00  worth  of  type.  I  also  purchased  a  hog  at  eight  cents 
a  pound,  which  I  salted.  I  bought  potatoes  at  $1.20  fora 
bushel.  They  rose  in  the  spring  to  $2.00.  I  purchased 
beans  at  wholesale  prices.  Occasionally  I  had  beef  and  mut- 
ton. My  winter's  daily  food  cost,  with  coffee  and  apples, 
eighteen  cents.  A  pound  of  bread  sells  for  ten  cents. 

A  pound  of  good  flour  costs  six  cents,  and  will  make 
twenty-one  ounces  of  bread,  at  a  cost  of  four  and  a  half 
cents  a  pound.  It  is  the  duty  of  every  housewife  to  use 
as  much  flour  as  possible.  Make  a  batter  of  eggs,  skimmed 
milk,  and  flour  ;  ferment  it,  and  bake  into  pancakes.  Have 
a  generous  portion  left,  then  put  it  in  a  cloth,  boil  it  two  or 
three  hours,  and  serve  it  very  hot  for  dinner.  It  is  to  be 
eaten  with  butter,  sugar,  and  honey. 

Roll  out  a  portion  of  richly  made  paste  to  the  diameter 
of  a  plate.  Roll  out  six  small  pieces  to  the  diameter  of  a 
saucer.  On  the  large  piece  of  paste  spread  a  layer  of  apple 
sauce  or  blackberries ;  spread  this  on  each  layer  of  paste,  and 
bring  the  outside  layer  over  the  whole  mass.  Put  a  plate  on 
the  joining  place,  and  it  will  keep  out  the  water.  Boil  in  a 
cloth.  Half  a  pound  of  chopped  suet,  mixed  with  a  pound  of 
flour  in  milk,  and  boiled  in  a  cloth,  makes  good  food,  when 
eaten  with  honey  and  butter.  Four  cents'  worth  of  wheat, 
pounded  wet  in  a  bag  till  hulled,  and  boiled  in  five  quarts  of 
milk,  with  six  ounces  of  sugar,  serves  four  men  a  meal. 

Coarse  beef,  with  one-third  of  salted  pork,  finely  chop- 
ped with  hatchets  on  the  end  of  wood,  makes  excellent  food. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE    AMERICAN    GOVERNMENT. 

THE  AMERICAN  GOVERNMENT  HAS  NOT  AMELIORATED  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE 
WORKING  PEOPLE — IT  SHOULD  BE  CHANGED — IT  BENEFITS  THE  RICH,  NOT 
THE  POOR — OPINIONS  OF  BRISSOT  DE  WARVILLE — MAROJJIS  DE  CHASTELLUX. 

"Ill  fares  that  State,  to  hastening  ills  a  prey, 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." — GOLDSMITH. 

JODWIN,  in  his  "Inquirer,"  says:  uln  savage  life 
there  is  no  invidious  distinction.  There  is  no  one 
unequal.  None  are  insulted  by  the  sight  of  inso- 
lent wealth  and  idleness.  As  soon  as  the  distinction  of 
property  exists,  created  by  the  labor  of  tenants  and  serfs, 
then  there  must  be  a  <*poiuer'  vested  in  certain  individuals, 
to  compel  others  to  labor  for  their  benefit." 

To  prove  this,  we  need  only  to  look  at  the  varied  disposi- 
tions of  men ;  some  are  good  and  kind,  others  are  selfish, 
cruel,  and  unjust.  The  benevolent  Howard  proposed  to 
his  wife  to  visit  London.  She  said,  "The  .£100  it  might 
cost  would  build  a  laborer  a  cottage."  The  journey  was 
not  made.  He  spent  $50,000  in  visiting  European  prisons, 
trying  to  get  their  woes  mitigated  by  their  sovereigns.  A 
part  of  the  Roman  patricians  could  find  pleasure  in  gladia- 
torial shows,where  thousands  of  victims,  monthly,  must  give 
up  their  lives,  to  obtain  which  provinces  were  ruined.  Some 
can  see  others  work  for  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  not  as- 
sist them.  They  would  rather  contrive  schemes  to  plunder 

(28q) 


290  THE  LABORER; 

them.    Franklin's  satire  on  human  society  is  true.    He  says : 

"Some  know  no  reason  why  they  are  born, 
Except  it  be  to  eat  up  the  other's  corn, 
To  eat  up  all  the  fowl,  flesh,  and  fish, 
And  leave  behind  them  an  empty  dish." 

There  are  many  who  have  acquired  wealth  by  injustice 
and  oppression,  and  who  rely  on  the  government  to^enable 
them  to  keep  it.  Van  Rensselaer,  of  N.  Y.  State,  had  giv- 
en to  him  a  piece  of  land,  one  hundred  miles  by  fifty,  con- 
taining 3,200,000  acres,  which  was  rented  to  settlers,  each 
to  give  a  bushel  of  wheat  for  nine  acres,  a  pair  of  chickens, 
and  a  day's  labor  every  year.  The  "Patroon"  had  the  privi- 
lege of  cutting  all  the  wood  he  wanted  ;  and  when  the  set- 
tlers sold  out,  they  had  to  give  a  fourth  of  the  money  to  the 
Patroon.  His  claim  was  given  by  Queen  Anne.  In  1837, 
the  settlers  got  it  into  their  heads  that  Anne  had  no  right  to 
give  away  lands,  to  which  they  and  their  ancestors  had  ac- 
quired a  title  by  cutting  down  the  trees,  fencing  the  fields, 
killing  the  wolves,  conquering  the  Indians,  constructing  the 
roads,  and  fighting  for  it  during  the  Revolution.  To  put  on 
a  piece  of  land  $10,000  worth  of  work,  and  when  sold  to 
give  $2,500  of  it  to  this  Patroon  was  injustice. 

This  man  had  done  nothing  to  the  land  to  give  it  value. 
This  person  had  rents  from  the  cities  of  Albany,  Troy,  and 
many  villages.  The  "renters"  had  a  revolt,  and  were  sub- 
dued by  policemen  and  soldiers.  An  appeal  to  laws  was 
in  vain,  as  they  were  made  by  lawyers  and  men  of  wealth. 
This  man  had  at  least  $200,000  as  a  yearly  income.  It 
would  bother  him  to  eat  $1,000  worth  of  fruits,  vegetables, 
bread,  and  meat  in  a  year.  This  sum  feeds  idle  servants, 
useless  mechanics,  sculptors,  painters,  and  makers  of  curiosi- 
ties. These  last  make  articles  called  virtu>  which  cause  the 
Patroon  to  be  a  virtuoso,  a  connoisseur  instead  of  a  farmer. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  291 

After  nearly  a  century  of  a  national  existence,  it  becomes 
us  to  inquire,  Are  we  a  happier  and  better  people.  Since  the 
Revolution  this  country  has  been  increasing  in  misery  and 
crime,  and  nothing  will  save  this  land  from  wretchedness 
but  to  return  to  those  habits  that  prevailed  before  our  Re- 
volution. Mrs.  Grant  came  to  America  in  1760.  In  her 
book  she  says  none  were  rich  or  poor.  All  had  to  work  in 
their  gardens,  except  Mr.  Schuyler.  This  was  in  the  city 
of  Albany.  The  Marquis  De  Chastellux,  a  French  officer, 
was  in  this  country  in  1783.  In  his  book  of  travels,  he 
says  the  only  poor  person  he  saw  in  America  was  a  girl, 
who  had  escaped  from  the  Wyoming  massacre,  an*d  she 
was  living  in  a  tavern.  This  writer  adds,  food  and  lodging 
are  abundant  every-where. 

The  translator  of  Brissot  De  Warville's  American  Trav- 
els, says  :  u  He  was  an  indefatigable  defender  of  the  rights 
of  mankind,  an  impartial  reasoner  and  inquirer."  In  answer 
to  an  inquiry,  u  Can  a  people  without  any  goverment  be 
happy?  "  he  says,  u  Yes,  the  numerous  Quakers  dispersed 
over  Pennsylvania  have  passed  half  a  century  without  mu- 
nicipal government  or  police.  P.  16. 

"  We  have  often  observed  that  civil  legislation  has  cor- 
rupted the  best  political  institutions;  it  is  often  a  crime 
against  society.  *  *  *  The  timidity  that  wealth  inspires, 
disposes  the  rich  to  regard  the  poor  as  capable  of  being  re- 
strained only  by  fetters.  P.  35. 

"  In  some  houses  you  hear  the  piano.  God  grant  that  the 
Boston  women  may  never  attain  the  malady  of  perfection 
in  this  art !  It  is  at  the  expense  of  domestic  virtue.  *  *  * 
The  law  has  imprisonment  for  adultery.  It  is  scarcely  car- 
ried into  execution — the  families  are  pure  and  happy.  *  *  * 
I  see,  with  pain,  they  invoke  the  hair-dresser's  art.  This  art, 
unhappily,  has  already  crossed  the  seas.  P.  73 


292  THE  LABORER; 

"  When  riches  are  centered  in  a  few  hands,  they  have  a 
great  superfluity  to  favor  the  agreeable  and  frivolous  arts. 
When  riches  are  equally  divided  in  society,  there  is  very 
little  superfluity  and  means  of  encouraging  the  pleasing  arts. 
The  ability  to  give  encouragement  to  the  agreeable  arts  is  a 
sympton  of  a  national  calamity.  P.  88 

"  The  [Boston]  work-house  is  not  so  much  peopled  as 
you  imagine.  Provisions  are  cheap,  good  morals  predo- 
minate, and  the  number  of  thieves  and  vagabonds  are  small. 
There  is  no  misery  here.  *  *  *  You  travel  without  fear  or 
arms.  You  sleep  quietly  in  the  woods,  or  in  a  house  that 
has  no  locks  on  the  doors.  P.  99. 

"Almost  all  these  houses  are  inhabited  by  men  who  are 
both  cultivators  and  artisans.  One  is  a  merchant,  another  a 
tanner,  etc.  All  are  farmers.  *  *  Agriculture  being  the  basis 
of  the  riches  of  this  state  [Connecticut],  they  are  here  more 
equally  divided.  *  *  You  hear  nothing  of  robberies,  murders, 
and  mendicity.  The  American  poor  do  not  abjure  all  ideas 
of  shame  and  equity.  P.  121. 

"Agriculture  abounds  there  [Albany],  and  the  people  do 
not  like  to  hazard  themselves  to  the  dangers  of  the  sea  for 
a  fortune  they  can  draw  from  the  bounty  of  the  soil.  The 
air  is  pure,  the  people  are  tolerably  temperate,  in  good  cir- 
cumstances, and  there  are  no  poor,  provisions  being  very 
cheap.  P.  130. 

UA  man  in  that  country  [Ohio]  works  scarcely  two  hours 
in  a  day.  *  *  Philadelphia  is  already  too  large.  When 
towns  acquire  this  degree  of  population,  you  must  have  po- 
lice, spies,  soldiers,  prisons,  hospitals,  and  all  the  sweeping 
train  of  luxury.  Wherever  you  find  luxury,  provisions  are 
dear..*  *  As  to  gold,  it  is  degrading  for  a  free  country  to 
dig  for  it.  Gold  has  always  served  the  cause  of  despotism. 
Liberty  will  find  less  dangerous  agents  in  its  place."  P.  416 


This  man  was  once  a  merchant,  and  tailed.  He  now  sells  hot  potatoes  to  poor 
street  boys.  He  might  have  been  a  happy  farmer,  if  the  speculators  in  wild  lands 
were  unknown.  Gen.  Washington  had  200,000  acres,  Morris  &  Co.,  6,000,000, 
Albert  Galatin  and  others,  225,000  acres  of  land  for  profit  or  rent.  This  made 
them  oppressors  of  the  working-men,  and  gave  them  power  to  found  banks,  con- 
struct toll-roads,  build  bridges,  and  possess  railroads.  If  the  "  Fathers  "  had  given 
to  each  mechanic  a  town-lot,  to  each  farmer  as  much  land  as  he  could  cultivate, 
the  inequalities  that  now  exist  would  not  be  seen.  The  rulers  of  this  nation,  by 
selling  lands  to  those  who  will  not  cultivate  them,  make  the  work-people  slaves. 

6 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  293 

This  writer  tells  us  of  a  visit  paid  to  Gen.  Washington, 
where  Col.  Humphrey  assured  him  that  the  General  planted 
1,100  bushels  of  potatoes  in  a  year,  and  his  estate  consisted 
of  200,000  acres  of  land.  This  language  occurs  in  M. 
Brissot's  second  volume: 

"  When  man  has  every  convenience,  he  then  thinks  of 
ornament.  The  wants  of  luxury  are  in  the  imagination, 
and  procure  imaginary  pleasures  only.  To  wear  lace  cloth- 
ing or  drink  coffee  out  of  china  is  a  want  created  by  fancy. 
*  *  Men  whose  subsistence  is  precarious  love  their  chil- 
dren less  than  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  who  have  a 
small  property.  Paternity  is  a  burden,  and  their  children 
are  ignorant  of  the  soft  caresses  of  paternal  love.  Manu- 
facturers [workmen]  are  condemned  to  vegetate  in  dismal 
prisons,  where  they  respire  infection,  and  abridge  their  lives. 
This  alone  ought  to  decide  the  Americans  to  reject  the 
painful  state  of  manufactures.* 

"If  manufactures  bring  gold  into  the  States  they  bring  a 
poison  that  undermines  them.  They  accustom  men  to  serv- 
itude, and  give  to  a  republic  a  preponderance  to  aristocrat- 
ical  principles.  Accumulating  riches  in  a  small  number  of 
hands  inclines  republics  to  aristocracy. 

u  Husbandmen  are  honest  people.  Workshops  show  in- 
terest struggling  against  interest,  rich  and  indolent  stupidity 
striving  to  cheat  active  indigence.  If  workshops  do  not 
make  men  rascals  they  dispose  them  to  become  so.  *  *  In 
a  republic  none  should  be  wretched — want  obliges  them  to 
disturb  civil  order.  They  are  paid  by  the  rich,  who  may 
make  use  of  them  to  destroy  republicanism.  *  *  *  Plate  is 
used  in  the  South,  where  slavery  reigns,  and  many  are  poor 

*  This  writer  had  ample  opportunities  to  observe  how  miserable  were  lace- 
makers,  jewelers,  silk  weavers,  and  others.  To  his  mind,  to  take  the  people 
from  productive  employment  was  to  make  them  poor.  He  saw  the  people  had 
good  woolens  and  linens,  which  each  made  for  himself. 

26 


294  THE  LABORER; 

there.  There  are  none  in  the  North — no  plate  is  used 
there.  *  *  America  is  not  yet  gnawed  by  the  vermin  which 
devour  Europe,  by  indestructible  mendicity.  Thieves  ren- 
der not  her  forests  dangerous.  Her  public  roads  are  not 
stained  with  blood  shed  by  assassins  and  robbers.  There 
are  no  beggars,  no  indigent  persons,  no  subjects  forced  to 
steal  the  subsistence  of  others  to  procure  one  for  them- 
selves. Every  man  finds  land  to  produce  him  articles  of 
subsistence,  and  it  is  not  loaded  with  taxes,  but  renders  him 
a  recompense  for  his  labor.  A  man  who  can  live  easily 
never  consents  to  dishonor  himself  by  useless  crimes,  the 
torments  of  remorse,  and  the  vengeance  of  society."  * 

Mr.  Winterbottom,  in  his  "History  of  America,"  tells  us  : 
"The  thirty-sixth  article  of  the  [Pennsylvania]  constitution 
says :  'Every  freeman,  to  preserve  his  independence,  ought  to 
have  some  profession,  calling,  trade,  or  farm,  whereby  he 
can  honestly  subsist.  There  can  be  no  use  in  establishing 
offices  of  profit,  the  usual  effects  of  which  are  dependence, 
servility,  faction,  contentions,  corruptions,  and  disorders 
among  the  people.  Wherefore,  whenever  an  office,  through 
increase  of  fees,  becomes  so  profitable  that  many  apply  for 
it,  the  profit  should  be  lessened.' 

uThe  Americans  pay  few  taxes,  and  no  tithes.  The 
rich  have  no  power  of  oppressing  there.  Not  many  have 
great  riches.  Poverty  is  almost  unknown.  Mr.  Cooper 
saw  only  one  beggar,  and  he  was  an  Englishman. 

*  This  writer  visited  this  land  in  1787.  His  writings  are  full  of  instruction 
to  the  Americans.  The  troubles  that  he  foresaw  are  upon  us.  He  went  back 
to  France.  On  the  3ist  of  Oct.  1793,  he  and  nineteen  others  were  guillotined 
for  being  in  opposition  to  Robespierre,  Barrere,  and  others.  Their  last  words 
were  "Vive  la  Republique."  They  all  commenced  to  sing  the  Marseillese 
hymn  at  execution.  As  their  voices  became  lessened,  the  sounds  grew  feeble. 
At  last  one  stood  up  to  sing,  his  voice  was  silenced.  Their  execution  was 
concluded  in  thirty-seven  minutes. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  295 

"The  homestead  is  given  to  the  youngest  son.  An  un- 
married man  of  thirty  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  the  coun- 
try towns.  A  grandmother  at  forty  and  her  married  daugh- 
ter, each  having  an  infant,  are  often  seen  together. 

44  The  privileged  aristocracy  of  Europe  are  often  without 
a  single  virtue,  rolling  at  ease  in  splendor,  preying  upon  the 
fruits  of  honest  industry,  and  devouring  the  earnings  of  the 
virtuous  peasant.  Their  depraved  manners  extend  poison 
through  all  the  channels  of  human  happiness. 

44  In  America  this  class  of  persons  is  not  known.  The 
mass  of  inhabitants,  exclusive  of  servants,  consists  of  those 
who  possess  lands  in  fee  simple.  A  mediocrity  of  situation 
is  common  in  America.  There  are  but  few  whose  in- 
comes will  reach  ,£2,000,  and  the  numbers  are  nearly  as 
small  who  are  reduced  to  a  dependent  situation. 

"There  are  in  America  but  few  people  like  the  poor  in 
England.  There  are  few  great  proprietors  of  land,  and 
few  tenants.  All  follow  some  handicraft.  Very  few  people 
are  rich  enough  to  live  on  rents  or  incomes,  to  pay  the  high 
price  for  paintings,  statues,  architecture,  or  any  works  of 
art  more  curious  than  useful.  Wanton  extravagance,  use- 
less parade,  and  quarrels  are  not  common.  Boxing  matches 
are  unknown.  No  military  to  keep  the  people  in  awe.  A 
robbery  is  rare.  There  was  none  during  the  yellow  fever  in 
Philadelphia. 

41  In  England,  the  young  man  flies  to  prostitution,  for  fear 
of  the  expense  of  a  family.  In  America  no  man  is  anxious 
about  the  expense  of  his  family.  Every  man  feels  the  in- 
crease of  his  family  to  be  an  increase  of  riches,  and  no  far- 
mer doubts  his  ability  to  provide  for  them. 

44  In  Great  Britain,  perpetual  exertion,  incessant  industry, 
daily  deprivation  of  the  comforts  of  life,  are  incumbent  on 
the  man  of  middle  life.  In  America  it  is  otherwise.  The 


296  THE  LABORER; 

mass  of  the  people  are  untainted,  hence  their  freedom  from 
artificial  poverty,  and  the  diffusion  of  the  common  conven- 
iences of  life. 

"  In  England,  if  a  man  is  unfortunate,  the  crowd  trample 
on  him.  In  America  there  is  room  to  get  up  again.  Part 
of  the  tradesmen  live  in  the  country,  and  reside  on  from  one 
to  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres,  which  they  cultivate  at  their 
leisure  with  their  wives  and  children.*'* 

Isaac  Weld  visited  America  in  1807.  It  seems  from 
reading  his  "Travels  in  North  America,"  that  he  found 
money  did  not  command  respect.  If  this  Englishman  had 
seen  any  want  or  poverty  he  would  have  mentioned  it.  He 
says :  "  The  generality  of  servants,  in  Philadelphia,  are  emi  - 
grants.  They  remain  in  servitude  till  they  can  save  some 
money,  then  they  quit  their  master  for  the  independence  so 
natural  to  the  mind  of  man.  As  to  the  Americans,  none 
but  the  most  indifferent  enter  into  service ;  it  is  considered 
only  suitable  for  negroes.  Civility  can  not  be  purchased  on 
any  terms.  They  consider  it  incompatible  with  freedom, 
and  that  there  is  no  other  way  of  convincing  a  stranger  he 
is  in  a  land  of  liberty,  only  by  being  surly  and  ill-mannered 
in  his  presence. 

"At  the  taverns  the  bread  was  sour,  the  fruit  acrid,  and  it 
was  difficult  to  get  a  horse  rubbed  down."  Mr.  Weld  de- 
scribes how  wretched  slavery  makes  a  people,  and  how  the 
common  people  fight,  and  how  they  gouge  out  the  eye. 
"In  Virginia  every  fourth  man  appears  with  an  eye  out." 

Duke  De  La  Rochefoucalt  Liancourt  wandered  up  and 
down  this  country  from  1795  to  1797.  His  principles 
were  opposite  to  those  of  Brissot's.  In  his  book  of  "  Trav- 
els," he  says:  "The  people  of  America  live  well.  There 

*This  history  was  written  in  1795,  ^or  circulation  in  England.  It  is 
in  four  volumes,  quarto  size. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  297 

are  few  persons  who  do  not  possess  more  than  they  need 
for  their  maintenance.  Hence  the  indolence  of  the  inhabi- 
tants. *  *  *  There  are  seldom  any  poor  in  Roxborough 
County  [near  Philadelphia].  Laborers  are  scarce  in  New- 
ark. The  district  contains  no  paupers,  there  exist  no  poor- 
rates.  *  *  *  Morristown  is  seven  miles  from  Philadelphia. 
Its  jail  is  only  inhabited  by  the  keeper.  Poor-rates  are  sel- 
dom necessary.  At  present  no  paupers  are  there.  *  *  * 
The  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York  have  established  poor- 
rates.  There  are  few  to  be  found  of  this  description  in 
that  new  country.  *  *  *  Herkimer  Co.  contains  25,000, 
persons.  Two  of  these  received  public  relief.  *  :  *  John 
Schuyler  has  1,500  acres  of  land  ;  500  acres  are  cleared. 
He  owns  three  mills,  and  his  yearly  taxes  were  $35.00." 

"John  Melish  gives  us  two  volumes  of  travels  in  this 
country  from,  1806  to  1809.  He  says:  "  The  people  are 
remarkably  civil  and  industrious.  *•  The  genius  of  archi- 
tecture seems  to  have  shed  his  maledictions  over  the  land.'* 
There  are  no  large  towns,  there  seems  to  be  no  occasion  for 
them.  Mankind  are  better  accommodated  in  small  towns 
than  in  large  cities.  The  inhabitants  are  mostly  farmers, 
and  produce  on  their  farms  every  necessary  of  life.  One 
day's  labor  was  sufficient  to  keep  the  family  a  week." 

This  writer,  by  this  record,  has  given  us  the  causes  of  the 
poverty  of  this  country.  "'The  Ohio  Company's  pur- 
chase' is  along  the  Ohio  River  seventy  miles,  from  north 
to  south  eighty,  and  contains  1,000,000  acres.  The  retail 
price  of  this  land  was  from  $2.00  to  $20. OO  an  acre. 

"'The  Symmes's  purchase'  is  between  the  two  Miamis, 

*This  writer  paid  a  visit  to  Thos.  Jefferson,  and  has  saved  us  this  one  of  his 
noble  sayings.      A     beautiful  store  is  built  by  profits  the  people  have  not  yet 
learned  to  save.       That    imposing  college  is  often  built  by  speculations  on 
public  lands.     The  grand   public  edifice  is  often  built  by  forced  contributions.  • 
Were  the  common  people  wise,  this  excessive  labor  would  be  on  their  homes. 


298  THE  LABORER  ; 

it  contained  more  than  1,000,000  of  acres,  and  was  sold  for 
$5.00  an  acre.  Mr.  Zane,  of  Wheeling,  for  surveying  a 
road,  had  given  to  him  lands  that  are  the  sites  of  Zanesville, 
New  Lancaster,  and  a  tract  of  bottom  land  opposite  Chil- 
licothe,  one  mile  square.  'The  Scioto  Company's  pur- 
chase* contained  2,000,000  of  acres. 

"'The  Western  Reserve  lands'  were  122  miles  long, 
and  45  wide,  and  contained  3,423,360  acres.  In  1795, 
500,000  acres  were  given  to  those  on  the  Connecticut  sea- 
shore, whose  towns  were  burnt  by  the  British  during  the 
Revolution.  The  remainder  of  the  land,  was  sold  by  the 
Connecticut  Legislature,  to  Oliver  Phelps  and  others  for 
$1,200,000.  This,  land  in,  1810  was  re-sold  for  two  and 
four  dollars  an  acre. 

"'The  Holland  purchase'  was  100  miles  square,  and  con- 
tained 4,000,000  of  acres,  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Ontario, 
and  the  Genesee  River.  The  retail  price  was  $3.50  for  an 
acre,  five  per  cent,  in  cash,  and  the  balance  to  be  paid 
in  six  annual  payments/' 

This  writer  gives  us  a  pleasing  description  of  the  "Rapp 
Colony."  He  says:  "'The  Harmonist  Society'  had  its 
origin  in  Wurtemberg.  The  Lutheran  religion  had  be- 
come predominate,  to  which  every  body  had  to  contribute. 
These  men  maintained  that  the  religion  taught  by  Luther 
had  been  destroyed,  and  in  place  of  it,  to  regulate  the  life, 
and  regenerate  the  mind,  it  was  converted  into  an  engine  of 
power,  to  the  civil  government,  to  keep  the  people  in  check. 
They  were  subjected  to  fines  and  imprisonments. 

"In  1805,  they  organized  a  constitution,  and  founded  it 
on  Acts,  ch.  iv,  v.  32.  This  society,  in  their  new  American 
home,  in  1809,  had  4,500  bushels  of  wheat,  4,500  of  rye, 
4,500  of  barley,  10,000  of  potatoes,  4,000  Ibs  of  flax, 
and  1,000  sheep.  In  1810,  they  numbered  800  persons. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  299 

"They  owned  9,000  acres  of  land.  Their  mills,  dwell- 
ings, and  lands  amount  to  §220,000.  They  live  pure  lives, 
and  resign  their  offspring  to  the  society  at  death.  They 
have  no  fear  of  want,  no  care,  no  use  for  money.  They 
help  each  other,  and  are  free  from  the  temptations  that  the 
rest  of  mankind  are  subject  too.  There  is  no  crime  or  im- 
morality among  them." 

Had  these  people  lived  in  the  city,  and  become  chin- 
shavers,  head-washers,  grotesque  stone-carvers,  toy-makers, 
wood-carvers,  and  frivolous  workers,  they  would  have  been 
poor  and  miserable,  their  children  drudges,  sewing-girls  in 
shops  with  the  windows  in  dark,  dirty  alleys.  Some  of  these 
societies  are  still  prosperous  and  getting  richer.  The  time 
may  come  when  laborers  will  live  in  "baronial  halls/'  sur- 
rounded with  umbrageous  walks,  grassy  lawns,  beautiful 
conservatories,  well  filled  graperies,  abundant  vineyards, 
bounteous  orchards,  flowery  parterres,  productive  gardens, 
and  pleasing  apiaries. 

The  "Zoarites"  do  not  increase,  and  their  children  wan- 
der off  to  enjoy  gavety  elsewhere.  There  can  be  no  harm 
in  making  their  home  attractive  to  prevent  this.  When  a 
man  has  a  house,  a  granary,  a  fenced  field,  he  may  indulge 
in  the  fine  arts ;  if  he  creates  them  with  his  own  hands,  then 
no  one  is  injured.  To  take  by  force  or  fraud  the  food  and 
clothes  of  another,  and  give  them  to  scene  painters  and  trifle 
makers  is  an  injustice.  Those  who  nourish  these  artists 
never  see  their  wondrous  productions.* 

The  writer  resolved  he  would  make  a  painting  by  getting  up  early  in  the 
morning  at  midsummer,  and  painting  to  seven  o'clock,  the  hour  for  labor.  With 
pencil  I  copied  a  book  scene,  and  put  on  the  varied  colored  paints.  After 
sixty  mornings  I  then  showed  the  painting  to  a  "tinner"  and  a  "plumber," 
the  two  first  to  see  it.  One  said  :  "  Whoever  saw  such  sharp  rocks  on  a  sea- 
shore." Said  the  other:  "They  are  put  there  to  rind  freight -for  the  boat." 
The  scene  was  a  boat  at  sea,  sailors  on  the  shore,  cottage  and  hills  in  the  dis- 


300  THE  LABORER; 

In  1818,  a  Philadelphia  printer,  of  the  name  of  H.  Hall, 
printed  a  series  of  "-Letters  on  Pennsylvania,"  written  by 
C.  B.  Johns.  He  says:  "There  are  no  poor  here.  A  la- 
borer gets  $1.25  for  a  day's  labor.  $1,00  will  purchase 
20  Ibs  of  beef,  or  20  Ibs  of  pork,  or  16  Ibs  of  flour.  The 
labor  of  four  days  will  give  him  support  for  a  month.  I 
have  been  in  four  houses,  and  the  men  are  sitting  down  in- 
stead of  working.  Sheep  skins,  heads,  and  breasts  are 
thrown  away." 

The  laborer  of  half  a  century  ago  did  not  accumulate  a 
pile  of  money  to  generate  stealers.  He  created  a  heap  of 
food,  and  then  ate  it.  A  thief  in  these  improved  days  stole 
some  silver-plate.  He  sent  a  letter  to  his  victim  saying: 
41  Allow  me,  sir  respectfully  to  suggest  to  you  in  future  you 
will  content  yourself  with  cheap  spoons,  and  spend  your 
surplus  cash  in  the  cause  of  humanity  and  Christ." 

Abbe  Raynal,  when  speaking  of  the  criminals  sent  to  this 
country,  says:  "  If  they  had  not  quitted  their  country,  dis- 
grace and  shame,  which  never  fail  to  depress  the  mind, 
would  have  prevented  them  from  recovering  either  regular- 
ity of  manners  or  public  esteem.  But,  in  another  country, 
where  the  experience  they  had  of  vice  might  prove  a  lesson 
of  wisdom,  and  where  they  had  no  occasion  to  attempt  to 
remove  any  unfavorable  impressions,  they  found,  after  their 
misfortunes,  a  harbor  in  which  they  rested  with  safety.  In- 
dustry made  amends  for  their  past  follies.  Men  who  had 
left  Europe  like  vagabonds,  and  who  had  disgraced  it,  re- 
turned honest  men  and  useful  members  of  society. 

"All  these  colonists  had  at  their  disposal,  for  clearing 
and  tilling  their  lands,  the  most  profligate  set  of  men  in 

tance.  I  never  painted  a  cloud,  a  tree,  or  a  wave  before.  A  determined  will 
works  wonders.  My  ambition  is  with  my  own  hands  to  build  a  house  and 
have  some  home-made  paintings. 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  301 

the  three  kingdoms,  who  had  deserved  death  for  capital 
crimes,  but  who,  from  motives  of  humanity  and  policy, 
were  suffered  to  live  and  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  state. 
These  malefactors,  who  were  transported  for  a  term  of 
years,  which  they  were  to  spend  in  slavery,  became  industri- 
ous, and  acquired  manners,  which  placed  them  once  more  in 
the  way  to  fortune.  There  were  some  of  those  who,  when 
restored  to  society  by. the  freedom  they  had  gained,  became 
planters,  heads  of  families,  and  the  owners  of  the  best  plan- 
tations— a  proof  of  how  much  it  is  for  the  interest  of  a  civi- 
lized society  to  admit  this  lenity  in  the  penal  laws,  so  con- 
formable to  human  nature,  which  is  frail,  but  capable  of 
sensibility,  and  of  turning  from  evil  to  good." 

Jeremy  Bentham,  in  his  *l  Theory  of  Legislation,"  says  : 
"  The  English,  before  the  independence  of  America,  were 
in  the  habit  of  sending  their  convicts  to  that  country.  This 
was  slavery  to  some,  to  others  pleasure.  A  rogue  was  a 
fool  if  he  did  not  commit  some  offense  to  get  an  outfit  and 
a  free  passage.  Some  of  the  convicts  gained  a  home  and 
property" — Penal  Code. 

Lord  Kames,  in  his  u  Sketches  on  Governments,"  says  : 
u  0ur  American  settlements  are  now  so  prosperous,  ban- 
ishment there  is  scarce  a  punishment.  It  may,  however,  be 
now  a  sufficient  punishment  for  theft." 

Mrs.  Kitty  Trevelyan,  in  her  diary  of  the  "The Times 
of  Whitefield  and  Wesley,"  written  in  1745,  says:  u  There 
are  the  convicts,  our  outcast  countrymen,  working  out  their 
sentences  beside  the  negroes  on  the  plantations." 

Voltaire,  in  a  preface  to  another's  book,  speaks  of  trans- 
ported criminals  to  America  as  becoming  honest.*  De 
Toqueville,  in  his  writings,  alludes  to  this  subject. 

*The  writer  regrets  that  the  note  he  made  from  Voltaire  is  mislaid.  Men 
are  made  bad  by  circumstances.  If  you  change  them,  men  become  better. 

27 


302  THE  LABORER; 

James  I  "ordered  dissolute  persons  to  be  sent  to  Vir- 
ginia." Statutes  were  enacted  that  crimes  punishable  with 
death  might  be  commuted  by  the  courts  to  banishment.  A 
reason  for  this  act  was  uin  many  of  the  colonies  there  was 
a  want  of  servants,  who,  by  their  labor  and  industry,  might 
improve  the  said  colonies  and  make  them  more  useful." 

The  Legislature  of  Virginia  passed  an  act,  that  persons 
who  disposed  of  these  convicts  should  give  Xioo  security 
for  their  proper  behavior.  Those  who  purchased  them 
gave  <£io  security  that  they  should  do  no  harm.  In  1750, 
about  400  felons  were  yearly  sent  to  Maryland. 

In  1752,  the  New  York  "Independent  Reflector"  says : 
"Very  surprising  that  a  horde  of  the  most  flagitious  banditti 
upon  earth  should  be  sent  as  agreeable  companions  to  us  ! 
It  is  intended  as  a  punishment.  It  is  a  mistake ;  they  are 
highly  rewarded.  What  can  be  more  agreeable  to  a  wretch, 
driven  through  necessity  to  seek  a  livelihood  by  house- 
breaking,  and  robbing  on  the  highway,  to  be  saved  from  the 
halter,  the  stench  of  a  jail,  and  transported  to  a  country 
where  no  man  can  reproach  him  for  crimes  ;  where  labor 
is  high,  where  a  little  will  support  him,  and  all  his  expenses 
will  be  moderate  and  low? " 

The  Revolution  put  an  end  to  convict  emigration.  In 
1 80 1,  Botany  Bay  had  5,000  convicts  and  500  free  people. 
This  was  the  germ  that  will  be  a  mighty  nation.  This  in- 
fant people  was  divided  into  servants,  soldiers,  and  masters. 
The  poor  convict  had  only  a  small  burden  to  bear,  he  be- 
came virtuous.  When  the  lawyer,  clergyman,  scholar, 
merchant,  physician,  philosopher  and  others  are  added  to  the 
burdens  of  the  untaught  convict,  then  the  heavy,  crushing 
machinery  of  government  must  be  brought  into  requistion 
to  compel  submission.  The  result  is  jails,  gibbets,  gallows, 
engines  of  torture,  well-dressed  men  with  clubs,  and  soldiers 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  303 

with  bayonets.  These  convicts  had  in  one  year  10,000 
acres  of  wheat,  7,000  sheep,  1,300  head  of  cattle,  and  5,000 
hogs.  The  convicts  having  to  eat  this  themselves  would 
be  virtuous.  To  fasten  on  them  the  various  orders  of  so- 
ciety was  to  make  them  poor,  and  cause  them  to  be  crim- 
inal to  their  oppressors.  In  place  of  soldiers  and  masters  if  a 
few  mechanics  had  been  given  them  to  teach  them  how  to 
labor,  a  greater  amount  of  justice  would  have  been  done  to 
them.  Society  makes  men  wicked.  Put  them  in  the  way 
of  earning  an  easy  living,  and  you  do  much  toward  making 
men  better. 

O'Hara,in  his  "Hist,  of  New  South  Wales,"  says:  "In 
1819,  the  colony  had  20,000  people.  They  had  170,920 
sheep,  44,750  head  of  cattle,  and  the  acres  of  land  culti- 
vated was  47,564.  *  *  *  Their  u  Gazette  "  tells  us  that  "  a 
person  is  desirous  of  instructing  children  in  polite  diction." 
In  1822,  a  commissioner  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the 
condition  of  the  colony.  He  finds  fault  with  setting  con- 
victs to  work  on  public  buildings  with  pilasters  and  pillars, 
when  many  are  wanting  covering.  The  convict  can  buy  his 
time  off  the  government  for  seven  shillings  a  week.  Sam- 
uel Terrey,  a  convict,  has  got  1,900  acres  of  land,  1,450 
head  of  cattle,  and  3,800  sheep."* 

There  are  many  people  who  have  no  governments,  and 
are  virtuous.  Lewis  and  Clark  were  sent  to  explore  the 
Rocky  Mountains  by  President  Jefferson.  These  rnen  in 
their  journal  tell  us  they  saw  tribes  of  Indians  among  whom 
the  crime  of  stealing  was  unknown.  A  traveler  among  the 

*  The  avarice  and  selfishness  of  this  man  creates  governments.  The  na- 
tives keep  the  colony  together.  This,  with  the  sale  of  lands,  makes  the  convict 
a  drudge  to  the  more  knowing.  The  discovery  of  gold  in  this  land  has  made 
bolts  and  locks  necessary,  and  also  governments.  This  gold  caused  crime, 
which  took  men  fram  productive  labor  to  prevent  and  punish  it.  This  land  is 
not  as  virtuous  as  it  was.  There  are  too  few  at  useful  work. 


304  THE  LABORER; 

Esquimaux  Indians  says  their  oars,  lances,  and  every  thing 
of  value  was  exposed,  and  none  were  guilty  of  stealing.  Mr. 
Robert  Percival  says:  u The  Ceylonese  are  courteous  and 
polite  in  their  behavior.  I  have  already  exempted  them 
irom  the  censure  of  lying  and  stealing." 

Lord  Kames,  in  his  "History  of  Man,"  says:  "Riches, 
selfishness,  and  luxury  are  the  diseases  that  weaken  pros- 
perous nations,  that  corrupt  the  heart,  and  dethrone  the 
moral  sense.  Men  hesitate  at  no  expense  to  purchase  pleas- 
ure, and  at  no  vice  to  supply  that  expense.  Looking  back 
to  the  commencement  of  civil  society,  when  no  wants  but 
those  of  nature  were  known,  and  when  such  wants  were 
amply  provided  for,  we  find  individuals  of  the  same  tribe 
living  innocently  and  cordially  together.  They  had  no  ir- 
regular appetites,  nor  any  ground  for  strife.  In  that  state 
moral  principles  joined  their  influence  with  that  of  national 
affection  to  secure  individuals  from  harm.  Savages,  accord- 
ingly, who  have  plenty  of  food  and  are  simple  in  habitation 
and  clothing,  seldom  transgress  the  rules  of  morality  within 
their  own  tribe. 

u  Didorus  Siculus  says  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  dwelt 
in  mean  cottages,  contented  with  plain  and  homely  fare, 
and  strangers  to  the  excess  and  luxury  of  rich  men.  In 
Holland  locks  and  keys  were  unknown,  till  the  people  be- 
came rich  by  commerce.  The  Laplanders  have  no  notion 
of  theft.  This  crime  was  unknown  among  the  Caribbees. 
In  the  reign  of  Edwin,  King  of  Northumberland,  an  histo- 
rian reports  that  a  child  might  have  traveled  with  a  purse  of 
gold  without  hazard  or  robbery.  In  our  days  of  luxury,  so 
intolerable  is  want,  that  even  the  fear  of  death  will  not 
deter  men.  Paul  Carpi,  in  1246,  said  the  Tartars  were 
not  addicted  to  thieving.  Pagans  in  Siberia  are  a  moral, 
good  people.  Among  them  thieving  and  fraud  are  rare." 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  305 

Lord  Kames  goes  through  much  reasoning  to  prove  that 
governments  introduce  misery  into  society.  It  can  not  be 
denied  that  the  people,  before  the  Revolution,  were  virtuous 
and  no  crime  prevailed.  Thomas  Jefferson,  in  his  "  Notes 
on  Virginia,"  makes  no  allusion  to  crime  or  poverty,  hence 
we  may  safely  conclude  there  was  none.*  In  these  notes, 
he  says:  "I  never  saw  a  native  begging.  A  subsistence  is 
easily  gained  here.  *  *  *  Corruption  of  the  mass  of  cul- 
tivators is  a  phenomenon,  which  no  age  or  nation  has  ever 
produced  an  example." 

The  fathers  of  the  Revolution,  to  judge  by  their  acts, 
believed  in  a  class  uto  do  the  mean  duties  of  life,  on  which 
to  build  refinement  and  civilization."  The  first  method  is 
to  let  men  have  large  quantities  of  land,  not  for  the  purpose 
of  cultivation,  but  to  sell  for  a  high  value,  to  get  money 
without  working  for  it.  A  laborer  has  not  the  time  to  read, 
or  the  money  to  purchase  Smith's  Theory  of  Moral  Senti- 
ments, Wayland's  Moral  Science,  or  Thomas  Brown's 
Moral  Philosophy.  He  must  reason  the  question  his  own 
way.  A  thief  wants  money,  so  does  a  land  speculator. 
The  scheming  of  the  one  is  legalized,  the  other  is  not.  To 
the  mind  of  a  person  not  versed  in  moral  ethics,  as  taught 
by  college  men,  he  must  reason  thus.  The  land  was  made 
by  the  Creator  for  his  children,  and  he  designs  all  to  have 
an  equal  share.  That  one  man  should  pay  another  for  a 
piece  of  wild  land  is  unjust,  and  a  usurpation  on  the  rights 
of  men.  The  Creator  designed  land  to  be  free. 

For  the  fathers  of  the  nation,  to  give  whole  districts  to  a 
few,  was  an  outrage — it  was  giving  the  common  people  to  be 
a  prey  to  speculators.  This  later  government  has  given  to 

*  If  the  reader  will  examine  this  subject  he  will  find "  this  is  truth.  M. 
Brissot  tells  us  that  Boston  took  care  off  150  old  and  diseased  persons.  These 
were  mostly  strangers.  Boston  then  was  a  seaport  town — a  cause  for  poverty. 


306  THE  LABORER; 

railroads  3,000,000  of  acres,  from  which  enormous  for- 
tunes will  be  made,  and  it  will  make  the  condition  of  many 
of  the  Americans  but  little  better  than  serfs.  In  an  agricul- 
tural country  the  people  labor  four  hours  a  day.  When  rail- 
roads are  built  the  farmers  work  ten  hours  a  day.  They  give 
their  surplus  for  foreign  luxuries.  A  poor  drudge,  who 
handles  this  surplus  in  its  transit,  gets  as  pay  for  a  week's 
work  what  will  keep  him  two.  The  farmer  creates  in  one 
week  what  will  keep  him  ten.  When  the  railroad  laborer 
becomes  as  wise  as  the  farmer,  he  will  say  to  him,  Risk  your 
own  life,  do  your  own  carrying.  It  is  the  object  of  legisla- 
tion to  make  a  part  of  men  drudges.  If  the  $30,000,000 
that  has  been  spent  in  Illinois  on  railroads  had  been  used 
to  introduce  the  manufacture  of  the  various  luxuries  that 
come  from  abroad,  the  people  would  be  happier  and  better. 
The  people  of  Illinois  should  have  built  their  own  roads. 
To  print  $30,000,000  would  have  cost  $15,000.  For  these 
notes  the  merchants  and  farmers  would  support  the  road- 
makers.  These  two  classes  fed  and  clothed  the  workmen 
for  the  capitalists.  They  should  have  done  it  for  them- 
selves, and  owned  the  road. 

The  cost  of  the  railroads  in  this  land  is  $1,600,000,000. 
The  cost  of  the  railroads  in  Massachusetts  is  $18,000,000; 
the  earnings  yearly  are  $6,500,000.  The  New  York  rail- 
roads cost  $1,700,000,  and  earned  yearly  $50,000,000.  The 
Pennsylvania  railroads  cost  $222,000,000,  and  earned  one~ 
fifth  of  this  sum.  The  Cleveland  roads  cost  $4,868,427, 
and  earned  $2,659,346.  The  Terre  Haute  railroad  earned 
yearly  $1,134,549,  and  cost  $1,984,149. 

In  the  island  of  Guernsey,  near  France,  the  authorities,  to 
build  a  market-house,  issued  paper  notes  which  circulated. 
The  rent  was  paid  in  these  notes.  This  same  plan  would 
have  gradually  filled  this  land  with  railroads,  the  profits  of 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  307 

which  would  have  raised  a  revenue  sufficient  fo  the  pur 
poses  for  which  taxes  are  assessed.  The  canal  built  by  the 
Duke  of  Bridgewater,  a  century  ago,  pays  enormous  profits. 
The  £100  share  sells  for  ,£1,500.  Had  the  city  of  Man- 
chester issued  notes,  passed  them  as  money,  and  built  this 
canal,  the  annual  revenue  derived  from  it  would  be  equal 
the  first  cost  of  it. 

The  u  Prairie  Farmer  "  notices  some  of  the  large  farms 
in  trre  West:  "  Broadland's  contains  23,000  acres.  Fow- 
ler &  Earl's  farm,  in  Benton  County,  Indiana,  numbers 
26,000  acres.  Sumner's  farm  contains  13,000  acres.  In 
the  same  county  is  the  Boswell  farm,  containing  8,000  acres. 
Many  farms  in  the  Wabash  Valley  contain  from  1,000  to 
3,000  acres.  The  owner  of  Broadland  has  in  Ford  County, 
a  farm  of  40,000  acres.  Another  has  a  farm  of  17,000 
acres.  Mr.  Sullivant's  farm,  in  Illinois,  contains  40,000 
acres.  This  man  has  a  large  village,  and  all  the  inhabi- 
tants work  for  him  under  overseers."  This  looks  like  feud- 
alism— like  scenes  in  Russia.  To  see  gangs  of  men  work- 
ing hard  to  enrich  another,  should  arouse  a  feeling  of  indig- 
nation in  the  mind  of  every  humane  man. 

It  may  be  said  with  truth,  that  the  owners  of  these  large 
farms  give  to  their  hands  one-third  of  the  crop.  A  bar- 
gain like  this  is  often  made.  For  three  centuries  the  Afri- 
can Moors  had  a  habit  of  taking  vessels,  robbing  them,  and 
carrying  the  sailors  into  slavery,  who  were  allowed  to  have 
one-third  of  what  they  earned.  General  Eaton,  at  Tunis,  in 
1799,  writes  thus:  "Truth  and  justice  demand  from  me 
this  confession,  that  the  Christian  slaves  among  the  barba- 
rians of  Africa  are  treated  with  more  humanity  than  slaves 
in  civilized  America."  These  slaves  could  purchase  their 
time,  and  had  Sunday  and  saint  days  to  keep.  They  were 
out  of  the  way  of  harm.  They  could  believe  whatever  they 


308  THE  LABORER; 

pleased.  At  home,  if  they  should  change  from  Catholicism 
to  Protestantism,  the  Inquisition  behaved  disagreeably  to 
them.  Even  to  be  a  Quaker  was. to  suffer  imprisonment. 
These  slaves  worked  at  trades,  became  merchants,  accu- 
mulated fortunes,  and  purchased  their  freedom.  In  Chris- 
tendom a  poor  man  has  been  punished  for  stealing  a  pint  of 
peas  to  satisfy  hunger.  The  Algerine  was  indulgent.  Stolen 
goods  when  found  were  taken  away.  The  Koran  said  : 
"A  slave  was  not  a  free  agent ;  if  he  stole  to  satisfy  hunger, 
he  could  not  legally  be  punished  for  theft/'  Captain  Pic- 
hellin  had  800  slaves,  and  they  had  a  good  time  at  stealing. 
On  one  occasion  a  slave  stole  and  sold  the  anchor  of  a  gal- 
ley. Said  Pichellin:  "You  Christian  dog,  how  dare  you 
sell  my  anchor?"  Said  the  slave:  UI  thought  the  galley 
would  sail  better  without  the  additional  weight."  This  re- 
ply caused  a  laugh. 

All  of  these  slaves  could  not  rise  above  their  condition. 
A  successful  expedition  was  gotten  up  to  deliver  them.  A 
wrong  exists  among  us.  A  class  of  men  get  possession  of 
the  public  lands,  and  compel  the  most  virtuous- part  of  the 
community  to  work  for  them  eight  hours  out  of  twelve. 
Sturgis,  of  Chicago,  has  300,000  acres,  which  will  take  him 
two  days  to  ride  around  it  on  horseback.  This  man  has 
gone  among  the  Kansas  Indians  and  bought  out  their  claim, 
which  gives  him  8,000,000  of  acres  more. 

Since  1784,  land  speculators  have  made  thousands  of 
millions  of  dollars.  Their  plunderings  are  equal  in  value 
to  the  depredations  of  the  thieves.  If  the  farmers,  mer- 
chants, and  mechanics  would  unite  with  the  laborers  to  get 
free  homes,  it  would  be  done.  "  Harper's  Magazine,"  for 
1 868,  in  an  article  called  "  Trip  to  Colorado,"  said :  u  In  the 
stage  was  a  person  looking  for  lands  to  locate  them."  The 
stage  was  attacked  by  Indians,  and  found  refuge  at  a  fort 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  309 

The  speculators  of  the  nation  get  the  advance  of  the  la- 
borers when  they  locate  lands  before  the  Indians  leave, 
and  have  the  United  States  soldiers  to  protect  them.  The 
laborer,  to  get  lands,  must  go  over  beyond  those  of  the  spec- 
ulators, where  the  Indians  will  kill  him. 

Had  the  fathers  of  the  nation  not  been  so  selfish,  and 
given  the  lands  to  those  only  who  would  settle  them  in  lim- 
ited quantities,  or  160  acres,  the  people  of  this  nation  would 
be  more  virtuous  and  happier.  Men's  inability  to  occupy 
lands  makes  them  criminal.  How  noble  it  would  have 
been  had  the  fathers  of  the  nation  set  apart,  in  every  town- 
ship two  square  miles  of  land  for  a  town  site  !  It  would  have 
given  homes  to  1,280  mechanics  ;  to  each  two  acres,  on 
which  to  be  happy,  and  not  be  the  victims  of  base  men. 

There  is  another  wrong  government  does:  it  encourages 
gold-seeking — to  obtain  which  takes  men  from  useful  toil, 
and  increases  the  toils  of  those  who  remain  to  do  it.  The 
amount  of  gold  given  us  by  California  is  $1,500,000,000. 
The  labor  to  seek  this  gold  would  have  made  half  of  the 
American  people  good  homes. 

This  extract  shows  how  some  people  do  not  like  to  offer 
premiums  to  men  to  steal :  c*  They  say  in  Siberia — that 
a  man  deserves  to  be  robbed  who  carries  his  money  in  such 
a  small  compass  as  silver  coin  in  a  purse."*  This  people 
find  their  safety  in  having  their  treasures  in  the  form  of 
goods.  Paper  money  enables  those  who  issue  it  to  double 
their  wealth.  Wm.  Penn  sold  1,000  acres  for  $95,  or  he 
rented  fifty  acres  for  a  yearly  rent  of  a  cent  an  acre.  The 
farmer  could  borrow  money  off"  the  State  at  six  per  cent., 
and  have  sixteen  years  to  pay  it.  The  interest  paid  the  ex- 
penses of  the  State,  and  saved  the  people  from  taxation. 

*" Travels  in  Siberia;  or,  Spectacles  for  Young  Eyes."  By  Sarah  W.  Lan- 
der. Boston:  Walker,  Wise,  &  Company.  1864. 


310  THE  LABORER; 

It  has  been  computed  that  2,300,000  white  families  in 
this  land  have  no  homes  of  their  own.  In  New  York 
city  750,000  persons  live  in  tenant  houses.  These  make 
115,986  families;  of  these,  15,990  families  have  a  separate 
house;  14,362  families  live  two  in  a  house;  4,416  build- 
ings each  contains  three  families;  11,965  houses  contain 
each  seven  families;  113  rear-houses  each  contains  fifteen 
families  or  seventy  persons ;  twenty-four  houses  each  con- 
tains eighty  persons;  seventy-two  houses  each  contains 
ninety-five  persons  ;  193  houses  each  contains  in  persons  ; 
seventy-two  houses  each  contains  140  persons  ;  twenty-nine 
houses  contain  5,449  persons,  or  187  to  each  house.* 

The  reason  of  this  destitution  is,  labor  is  put  in  a  wrong 
place.  A  Presbyterian  family  resides  in  a  house  in  this  city 
[Cincinnati],  that  cost,  with  its  furniture  and  surroundings, 
$300,000.  The  stone-carved  front  of  the  nice  stable  has  a 
delicately  stone-carved  horse-head  over  the  entrance,  the 
labor  on  this  would  make  plain  homes  for  many  widows. 
Jerome,  a  horse-racing  banker,  ornaments  the  inside  of  his 
stables  with  black  walnut  panels,  grained  and  varnished 
woods,  which  cause  many  to  be  homeless. 

One  source  of  this  nation's  wrongs  is  to  get  the  extreme 
rich  to  make  the  people's  laws  or  rules  that  must  govern 

*The  writer  knew  a  man  whose  farm  [r6o  acres]  became  part  of  a  city. 
His  plan  was  to  divide  each  acre  into  lots  of  an  eighth,  and  sell  them  for 
$175  or  each  acre  for  $1,400,  or  the  whole  farm  for  $220,000.  His  chil- 
dren became  heads  of  families,  and  lived  finely  on  the  interest  of  these  exac- 
tions. Nature  demands  that  these  families  and  their  servants  should  work 
at  something  useful.  This  man  was  a  professing  Christian,  and  to  ease  his 
conscience  he  no  doubt  gave  to  the  missionaries.  These  have  to  be  fed  and 
clothed.  If  these  idle  families  were  creators  of  what  they  and  missionaries 
need,  more  of  them  can  be  sustained.  If  the  1,280  families  were  each  to 
retain  their  money,  seventy  persons  could  be  set  to  work  at  those  pursuits 
which  sustain  missionaries.  Wesley's  "Journal "  says  :  "Georgian  Indians 
learned  drunkenness  and  gluttony  of  Christians.  Who  will  convert  the  Eng- 
lish into  honest  heathens  ?"  It  is  absurd  to  become  rich  to  keep  missionaries. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS. 

our  conduct.  To  choose  the  man  who  has  made  his  own 
riches  by  selfishness  to  make  laws  for  us,  is  to  choose  our 
enemy.  A  very  rich  man  has  no  feelings  for  the  poor. 
The  other  day,  in  New  York  City,  a  carriage,  containing  a 
man  worth  $40,000,000,  was  carelessly  driven  over  an 
Irish  woman,  and  it  injured  her.  To  the  policeman  while 

arresting  him,  he  said,  U7  am  Commodore  Van /." 

The  magistrate  dismissed  the  case  with  as  little  detention 
as  possible.  If  this  man  had  got  out  and  lifted  her  into  his 
carriage,  and  expressed  sympathy  and  given  her  a  $100,  it 
would  have  done  some  good.  A  poor  hackman,  for  driving 
against  a  woman  and  not  injuring  her,  was  fined  $3.00. 

A  man  in  Albany,  whose  yearly  income  is  $100,000,  has 
a  poor,  hard-working  niece,  who  suffers  for  necessary  com- 
fort, and  who  would  be  placed  in  a  comfortable  position 
by  a  single  $100  yearly  from  her  uncle.  The  laborer  must 
choose  men  from  his  own  class  to  make  laws  or  rules — a 
man  of  frugality  and  plainness,  not  given  to  ostentation  or 
show.  An  intelligent  farmer  will  make  the  best  law-maker. 
The  earth  he  cultivates  never  cheats  him ;  it  makes  him  vir- 
tuous. He  has  no  occasion  to  tell  thumping  lies  to  live.  A 
farmer  knows  the  earth  will  give  him  a  support.  He  will 
not  take  bribes,  or  make  riches  out  of  the  people. 

The  National  Government  seems  to  be  an  institution  for 
taxing  the  people  for  the  benefit  of  private  interests  or  cor- 
porations. Many  of  the  presidents  and  others  get  rich  in  the 
employment  of  the  goverment.  General  Cass  was  worth 
$5,000,000.  James  Buchanan  made  $200,000.  Mr.  Fill- 
more  is  very  rich.  J.  Q.  Adams  left  $50,000.  J.  K.  Polk 
saved  $150,000.  J.  Tyler  left  $50,000.  Z.  Taylor,  at  his 
death,  bequeathed  $160,000.  F.  Pierce  saved,  while  Presi- 
dent, $50,000.  Van  Buren  died  rich.  Webster  spent  mill- 
ions, and  died  owing  $250,000.  His  property  was  worth 


312  THE  LABORER; 

$20,000.  Henry  Clay  acquired  an  estate  worth  $100,000. 
Among  the  very  many  acts  of  peculation  by  Congress  was 
the  "Galphin  claim."  In  1773,  George  Galphin  obtained 
from  the  Creeks  a  piece  of  land,  which  he  gave  to  Georgia. 
After  fifty  years,  the  descendants  of  this  man  claimed  com- 
pensation, which  was  granted  to  the  amount  of  $243,871. 
$3,000,000  was  given  to  the  chiefs  of  the  "  Creek  Nation," 
for  restoring  to  Georgians  fugitive  slaves.  The  "Florida 
War"  cost  $40,000,000,  it  was  to  recover  1,500  escaped 
slaves.  It  sacrificed  the  lives  of  4,500  soldiers.  Among  the 
items  of  expense  was  thirty  bloodhounds  at  a  cost  of  thirty- 
three  dollars  each.  These  were  fed  on  calves,  and  attended 
by  five  Spaniards.  To  carry  to  the  scene  of  operations,  the 
bloodhounds,  calves,  and  Spaniards  were  put  on  the  backs 
of  mules.  Away  they  went  to  hunt  men  who  wanted  to  be 
free.  This  was  in  the  palmy  days  of  Democracy.  A  fair 
lady  went  among  "the  wisdom  of  the  nation,"  and  got  a 
claim  allowed  for  $200,000,  which  was  rejected  when  pre- 
sented by  the  "  sterner  sex." 

The  room  devoted  to  lady  lobbyists  is  a  sumptuous  apart- 
ment. The  carpet  makes  footsteps  noiseless.  Two  windows 
in  the  thick  walls,  with  heavy  curtains  hanging  from  cor- 
nice to  floor  make,  cosy  retreats.  The  chandelier  is  of  mass- 
ive bronze.-  The  ceiling  is  frescoed  in  high  colors  and  deli- 
cate drawing.  Fascinating  serpents  and  birds  of  gay  plum- 
age are  blended  in  the  design.  The  sofas  are  covered  with 
green  velvet.  Here  legal  ladies,  with  snowy  fingers,  point  to 
important  places  in  papers  prepared  in  lawyers'  offices.  The 
means  to  keep  us  from  a  foreign  foe  has  made  an  inside  ene- 
my, and  consumed  a  sum  equal  to  the  whole  nation's  wealth. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    FRENCH    REVOLUTION. 

ITS  CAUSES,  CRUELTIES,  AND  BENEFITS  —  A  CONTEST  BETWEEN  NOBLES  AND 
PEOPLE  —  THE  NUMBER  OF  ITS  VICTIMS  —  THE  EDICT  OF  NANTES  —  THE 
PROFLIGACY  OF  THE  KINGS  OF  FRANCE  —  DEATH  OF  Louis  FOURTEENTH. 

"The  oppressed  have  a  right  to  rise  against  their  oppressors."—  ABBE  RAYNAL. 


are  painful  remedies  for  the  la- 
borer's  wrongs.  They  seem  to  be  necessary  to 
teach  kings  and  oppressors  how  far  they  can  go 
with  wrong  doing.  They  can  give  volumes  of  rules  to 
men,  and  punish  for  not  keeping  them.  These  rules  vio- 
late often  men's  ideas  of  what  is  right.  William  the  Nor- 
man enacted,  that  whosoever  killed  his  deer  should  lose  his 
eyes.  He  also  had  severe  enactments  against  those  who 
took  wood  from  the  forests.  No  kind  of  reasoning,  written 
or  spoken,  will  convince  the  humble  that  they  have  no  share 
in  these  things. 

In  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII,  "72,000  rogues,  great  and 
small,  were  trussed  apace,"  that  is,  hung  for  stealing.  The 
number  of  people  at  this  period  was  1,000,000.  About  one 
in  twenty  was  "devoured  and  eaten  up  by  the  gallows."  * 
In  the  reign  of  George  III,  at  one  time  fourteen  persons 
were  seen  by  thousands  suspended  by  their  necks  for  po- 
litical faults.  During  the  reign  of  this  monarch  more  than 
100,000  persons  were  hung,  banished,  punished,  and  mal- 

*"  Chronicles  of  Holinshedi"   an  historian  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth. 


3H  THE  LABORER; 

treated  for  faults  that  would  have  never  happened  if  society 
had  acted  like  the  Acadians  in  Nova  Scotia,  who,  for  133 
years,  had  no  case  of  crime  or  breach  of  public  morals.  It 
may  be  said  that  the  people  are  made  worse  by  being  ruled 
by  the  wise.*  The  poor  man  who  took  home  a  part  of  a 
pampered  horse's  food,  for  which  he  was  punished,  would 
not  have  done  it,  had  not  the  wise,  or,  perhaps  the  wicked, 
contrived  usages  and  theories  that  exempted  them  from  la- 
bor. Revolutions  come  from  injustice. 

"f  France,  from  its  earliest  ages,  had  its  assembly  in  the 
field  of  May.  The  king  presided  over  the  clergy,  nobility, 
and  sometimes  the  lower  orders.  The  chiefs  could  only 
speak.  The  feudal  system  arose  on  the  ruins  of  the  em- 
pire of  Charlemagne,  and  France  had  a  monarch  only  in 
name.  Haughty  dukes,  surrounded  by  warriors  in  castles, 
exercised  over  vassals  the  prerogatives  of  royalty,  and  often 
eclipsed  the  monarch  in  splendor.  Their  power  was  abso- 
lute over  serfs,  who  tilled  his  acres  and  huddled  under  their 
castles  for  safety.  In  the  language  of  the  feudal  code,  the 
duke  'might  take  all  they  had,  and  imprison  them  when 
he  pleased,  being  accountable  to  none.' 

"  France  was  a  number  of  provinces,  with  scarcely  any 
bond  of  union,  dotted  with  castles  on  craggy  hills,  or  river 
bluffs.  These  baronial  fortresses  were  flanked  by  towers, 
pierced  with  loopholes,  and  fortified  with  battlements,  and 
surrounded  by  a  ditch.  There  was  one  large  banqueting- 
hall  where  retainers  and  vassals  met,  in  which  was  aristo- 
cratic supremacy  and  democratic  equality.  Every  knight 
swore  feality  to  the  baron,  the  baron  to  the  duke,  the  duke 
to  the  king,  who  could  claim  service  from  these  and  not 
from  the  serfs.  Some  dukes  had  more  retainers,  and  were 
richer  than  the  king. 

*  See  page  joo.    f  This  chapter  is  taken  from  Abbott's  French  Revolution. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  315 

"The  line  of  the  Capets  became  extinct  on  the  death  of 
Charles  IV.  The  parliament  at  Paris  gave  the  crown  to 
Philip  of  Valois.  The  nobles,  having  a  king  to  their  wishes, 
complained  that  they  had  borrowed  large  sums  of  money  of 
merchants  and  artisans,  which  it  was  not  convenient  to  pay, 
and  that  it  was  inconsistent  with  the  dignity  of  nobles  to  pay 
low  born.  A  decree  was  passed  that  all  debts  should  be 
cut  down  one-fourth,  and  that  four  months  should  be  with- 
out interest.  To  reduce  these  plebeian  creditors  to  a  proper 
state  of  humility,  the  king  ordered  them  to  be  imprisoned, 
and  their  property  confiscated. 

"  He  created  a  court  at  Paris  of  such  magnificence,  that 
the  lords  abandoned  their  castles  for  the  city,  to  share  its  vo- 
luptuous indulgences.  Neighboring  kings  were  attracted  to 
this  court  on  account  of  its  splendor.  The  nobles  needed 
vast  sums  of  money  to  sustain  this  extravagance.  Overseers 
drove  peasants  to  their  toil,  and  extorted  from  them  every 
farthing  possible.  The  king,  to  replenish  his  exhausted 
purse,  assumed  the  sole  right  of  making  and  selling  salt  to 
each  family,  at  an  exorbitant  price.  Nobles  were  exempt 
from  this  and  every  kind  of  tax.  Vincennes  was  then  the 
great  banqueting  hall  of  Europe. 

u  In  its  present  decay,  it  exhibits  but  very  little  of  the 
grandeur  it  did  400  years  ago,  when  its  battlements  tow- 
ered above  the  forest  of  oaks — where  plumed  and  blazoned 
squadrons  met  in  joust  and  tournament  in  meteroic  splen- 
dor. Hunting  bands  of  lords  and  ladies  swept  the  park. 
Brilliant  as  was  this  spectacle,  no  healthy  mind  can  contem- 
plate it  but  with  indignation.  To  support  this  luxury  of  a 
few  thousand  nobles,  30,000,000  of  people  were  in  the  ex- 
tremes of  ignorance,  poverty,  and  misery. 

"With  the  increase  of  centuries  arose  intelligence  and  a 
middle  class  between  the  peasants  and  nobility.  Outrages 


316  THE  LABORER; 

became  intolerable — human  nature  could  endure  no  more. 
This  middle  class  became  leaders  of  the  masses,  and  hurled 
them  upon  their  foes.  The  conspiracy  spread  over  the  king- 
dom. It  was  a  servile  insurrection.  The  debased  popula- 
tion, but  little  elevated  above  the  brutes,  were  as  merciless 
as  the  hyena  or  wolf.  Frenzied  with  rage  and  despair,  in 
howling  bands  they  burst  upon  the  castles,  and  the  wrongs 
of  centuries  were  avenged.  Violence,  torture,  flame,  and 
blood  exhausted  their  energies.  Mothers  and  maidens  en- 
dured in  terror  all  that  mortals  can  endure,  brutal  indigni- 
ties, shame,  and  woe.  In  war,  even  the  refined  and  cour- 
teous often  became  diabolical.  Those  who  have  been  de- 
graded by  ages  of  ignorance  and  oppression,  when  they 
break  their  fetters,  become  incarnate  fiends. 

"  The  nobles  despised  the  peasants.  They  did  not  dream 
that  the  starving,  cringing  boors  would  dare  even  to  think 
of  emerging  from  their  poor  mud  hovels,  and  approach  the 
lordly  castles.  The  insurrection  of  Jacques  Bonhomme  as 
it  was  called,  was  after  much  devastation  subdued.  Bar- 
baric frenzy  can  seldom  hold  out  against  disciplined  valor. 
Half  of  the  people  of  France  fell  a  prey  to  the  sword,  pes- 
tilence, and  famine  that  ensued. 

"This  was  the  first  convulsive  movement  made  by  the 
people.  Defeated  though  they  were,  their  fetters  riveted 
anew,  they  obtained  new  ideas  of  power  and  right  they  did 
not  forget.  Already  we  begin  to  hear  many  of  the  phrases 
which,  400  years  later,  were  upon  all  lips,  when  the  feudal 
aristocracy  were  buried  in  the  grave. 

"The  history  of  the  kingdom  during  these  dreary  ages, 
is  but  the  record  of  the  intrigues  of  ecclesiastics,  the  con- 
flicts between  monarchs  and  nobles,  and  the  sweep  of  mad- 
dened armies.  The  people  continued  to  be  deprived  of  all 
social  and  political  rights.  They  were  debarred,  by  ignor- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  317 

ance  and  depressed  by  intolerable  burdens.  The  persecu- 
tions of  the  Protestants  had  much  to  do  with  the  revolutions 
of  Louis  XIV.  In  1662,  a  decree  was  issued  that  no  Prot- 
estant mechanic  should  have  apprentices,  and  they  should 
be  buried  after  sunset.  Teachers  were  to  instruct  in  the 
first  rudiments  only.  Not  more  than  twelve  were  to  be  al- 
lowed together  for  worship.  In  four  years  twenty  edicts 
were  issued  against  the  Protestants — none  could  be  doctors, 
lawyers,  apothecaries,  printers,  or  grocers.  Children  were 
often  taken  from  their  parents  to  be  trained  in  the  Catho- 
lic faith.  The  king  could  insult  the  moral  sense  of  the  na- 
tion by  traveling  with  the  guilty  Madam  Montespan.  The 
profligacy  of  the  ecclesiastics,  and  the  debauchery  of  the 
court  and  nobles,  was  never  more  universal  than  this  reign. 
This  was  the  golden  age  of  kings.  Feudality  had  died  and 
democracy  was  not  yet  born.  The  monarch  was  absolute. 
The  nobles,  deprived  of  all  political  power,  existed  as  an  ap- 
pendage and  embellishment  to  the  throne.  ^ 

"In  1681,  Louis  XIV  commenced  his  system  of  dra- 
gooning the  Protestants  into  the  Catholic  faith.  Scenes 
ensued' too  awful  to  be  narrated.  The  brutal  soldiery,  free 
from  all  restraints,  committed  every  conceivable  excess. 
They  scourged  little  children  in  the  presence  of  their  par- 
ents, to  induce  the  parents  to  give  up  their  faith.  They 
violated  the  modesty  of  women.  They  tortured  and  mu- 
tilated their  victims,  till  they  yielded  in  agony.  The  Prot- 
estants fled  in  all  directions,  and  made  desperate  efforts  to 
escape  from  the  kingdom.  Many  died  with  famine  by  the 
wayside  and  on  the  sea-shore.  Large  tracts  of  country  be- 
came nearly  depopulated.  Madam  de  Mainfoenon  sent  her 
brother  a  large  sum  of  money,  saying :  '  I  beseech  you  to 
employ  usefully  the  money  you  have.  The  lands  in  Poictou 

are  sold  for  nothing.     The  distress  of  the  Protestants  will 

28 


3i 8  THE  LABORER; 

bring  more  into  the  market.  You  can  easily  establish  your- 
self splendidly  in  Poictou.' 

41  There  were  about  3,000,000  of  Protestants  in  France 
when  dragoons  were  sent  in  every  direction,  by  the  court 
to  compel  a  return  to  Catholicism.  One  of  the  tortures 
was  by  pricking,  pulling,  burning,  and  suffocating  to  deprive 
the  victim  of  sleep,  till  he  promised  any  thing  to  escape  his 
tormentors.  It  was  boasted  that  in  Bordeaux  140,000  were 
converted  in  two  weeks.  The  Duke  of  Noailes  wrote  to 
the  court,  saying :  'In  his  district  there  had  been  240,000 
Protestants,  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  he  thought  there 
would  be  none  left.' 

"In  1598,  Henry  IV,  in  his  edict  of  Nantes,  granted  to 
Protestants  freedom  of  conscience.  Louis  XIV  revoked  it 
in  1685.  In  his  preamble  he  states:  'That  the  better  and 
greater  part  of  our  subjects  of  the  pretended  reformed  relig- 
ion, have  embraced  the  Catholic  Church.  The  maintain- 
ance  of  the  edict  of  Nantes  remains  superfluous.'  It  was  de- 
creed that  no  more  exercise  of  the  reformed  religion  will  be 
tolerated.  All  Protestant  ministers  were  to  leave  in  fifteen 
days,  and  forbidden  to  exercise  their  office,  under  the  pain 
of  imprisonment.  Protestants  were  punished  for  emigrat- 
ing to  other  countries. 

u  Numbers  escaped  after  the  revocation.  France  lost 
100,000  inhabitants,  and  her  most  flourishing  manufac- 
tories. The  Duke  of  St.  Simon  records  that  'A  fourth  of 
the  kingdom  was  perceptibly  depopulated.'  This  crime 
against  religion  filled  the  land  with  infidelity,  and  caused  re- 
monstrances from  Catholic  noblemen.  Montesquieu, Vol- 
taire, Rousseau,  and  Mirabeau,  not  distinguishing  between 
Christianity  and  the  Papal  Church  have  uttered  cries  of  in- 
dignation, which  thrilled  upon  the  ears  of  Europe,  and  un- 
dermined the  foundations  of  Christianity  itself. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  319 

UM.  De  Sismond  estimates  that  500,000  persons  found  a 
refuge  in  foreign  lands,  and  as  many  perished  in  the  attempt 
to  escape.  100,000  perished  in  the  province  of  Languedoc, 
and  of  these  10,000  were  destroyed  by  fire,  the  gallows,  and 
the  wheel* 

u  The  reign  of  Louis  XIV  was  that  of  an  oriental  mon- 
arch. His  authority  was  unlimited  and  unquestioned.  The 
people  had  two  very  powerful  enemies — kings  and  nobles. 
The  people  looked  to  the  king  to  protect  them  against  the 
nobles  as  sheep  look  to  dogs  to  protect  them  from  wolves. 
The  king  had  now  obtained  a  perfect  triumph  over  his  proud 
nobles,  and  had  gathered  all  the  political  power  into  his  own 
hands.  He  accomplished  this  by  bribery  and  force. 

"The  acquiescence  of  the  nobles  in  his  supremacy  was 
purchased  by  his  conferring  on  them  all  the  offices  of  honor 
and  emolument,  by  exemption  from  all  taxation,  and  by  sup- 
porting them  in  luxury,  indolence,  and  vice  from  the  toil  of 
the  starving  masses.  There  were  now  in  the  nation  two 
classes,  with  an  impassable  gulf  between  them.  On  the 
one  side,  were  80,000  aristocratic  families  living  in  idleness 
and  luxury ;  on  the  other,  24,000,000  of  people,  who,  as  a 
mass,  were  kept  in  the  lowest  poverty,  who  maintained  by 
their  toil  the  haughty  nobles,  from  whom  they  received 
nothing  but  outrage  and  contempt. 

"Nothing  was  done  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  people, 

*In  1747,  the  French  Parliament  gave  instructions  how  this  was  to  be  done. 
The  executioner,  when  the  body  is  stripped  and  stretched,  with  a  heavy  bar  of 
iron,  four  feet  long,  will  strike  on  the  joints,  then  crush  the  shoulders  with 
two  blows  on  each.  The  executioner  will  commence  on  the  feet,  and  strike 
up  to  the  shoulder,  thus  breaking  the  feet,  legs,  hips,  and  arms.  Three  heavy 
blows  are  to  be  struck  on  the  breast.  A  poor  servant  girl,  for  stealing  two 
dresses,  suffered  this.  Her  agony  lasted  eleven  minutes.  A  stream  of  blood  is- 
sued from  her  mouth,  drowning  her  cries,  after  her  knee-joint  was  broken. 
The  stealings  of  the  ruling  class  cause  the  toiling  ones  to  steal.  The  Ger- 
man mode  of  executing  was  to  let  fall  a  lifted  wheel  on  the  body  till  broken. 


320  THE  LABORER; 

who  were  kept  in  the  greatest  ignorance.  Abject  misery  was 
depopulating  the  provinces,  when  the  gorgeous  palaces  of 
France  exhibited  scenes  of  voluptuousness  which  the  wealth 
of  the  Orient  had  never  paralleled. 

"Louis  XIV  expended  $200,000,000  on  the  palace  of 
Versailles.  The  roofs  of  that  vast  pile  would  cover  twenty 
acres.  30,000  laborers  were  frequently  employed  in  embel- 
lishing the  magnificent  park,  sixty  miles  in  circumference. 
Marly,  with  its  parks,  fountains,  and  gardens,  had  also  been 
constructed  with  equal  extravagance.  Both  of  these  palaces 
exhibited  scenes  of  profligacy,  gilded  by  the  highest  fascina- 
tions of  external  refinement  and  elegance.  Louis  XIV  left 
to  the  nation  a  debt  of  $815,000,000.  For  several  years 
the  expenditures  had  exceeded  the  income  by  $30,000,000 
per  year. 

"  Under  Louis  XV  was  that  infamous  Jesuit,  Lavery  de 
Tressan,  Bishop  of  Nantes,  who  revived  from  their  slum- 
bers the  most  severe  ordinances  of  Louis  XIV.  The  royal 
edicts  were  issued  sentencing  to  the  galleys  for  life  any  man 
who  attended  auy  other  church  than  the  Catholic.  Prot- 
estant preachers  were  doomed  to  death  ;  and  any  person 
who  should  neglect  to  denounce  them,  was  consigned  to  the 
galleys.*  All  children  were  to  be  baptized  within  twenty 
hours  of  their  birth.  These  horrible  outrages  upon  human 
beings  were  received  with  transport  by  the  clergy.  When 
we  contemplate  the  seed  which  the  king  and  court  planted, 
we  can  not  wonder  at  the  revolutionary  harvest  that  was 
reaped  in  France. 

"The  Catholic  Church  was  loathsome  to  the  devout 
Christians.  They  preferred  the  philosophy  of  Montesquieu, 
the  atheism  of  Diderot,  the  unbelief  of  Voltaire,  the  senti- 

*  Boats  in  the  Mediterranean,  propelled  by  triangular  sails  and  oars.  The 
condemned  had  to  row  these  boats.  They  were  chained  often  to  the  oar. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  321 

mentalism  of  Rousseau,  to  this  merciless  and  bloody  demon 
assuming  the  name  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  swaying  a 
scepter  of  despotism,  which  was  deluging  France  in  blood, 
in  crime,  and  in  woe.  The  sword  of  persecution  was  again 
drawn  from  its  scabbard  and  bathed  in  blood. 

u  Many  Protestant  ministers  were  beheaded  and  broken 
on  the  wheel.  Religious  assemblies  were  surrounded  by 
dragoons,  and  fired  upon  with  the  ferocity  of  savages,  kill- 
ing and  maiming  men,  women,  and  children.  Enormous 
sums  of  money  were*extorted  by  the  lash,  torture,  dungeon, 
and  confiscation.  Fanaticism  so  cruel  was  revolting  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  age.  It  is,  however,  worthy  of  note  that 
few  of  the  philosophers  of  the  day  ventured  to  plead  for  re- 
ligious tolerance.  They  generally  hated  Christianity  in  all 
its  forms,  and  were  not  disposed  to  shield  one  sect  from  the 
persecution  of  another.  Voltaire  was,  however,  an  excep- 
tion. For  challenging  a  nobleman  who  had  insulted  him  he 
was  thrown  into  the  Bastile.  Soon  after  this  his  Lettres 
Philosophique  were  condemned  by  the  Parliament  to  be  burnt, 
and  an  order  was  issued  for  his  arrest.  The  friendship  of 
Frederick  the  Great  had  some  influence  in  saving  him  from 
the  punishment  that  his  fearless  opinions  provoked. 

"For  many  years  he  was  compelled  to  live  in  conceal- 
ment. He  learned  to  sympathize  with  the  persecuted.  In  his 
masterly  treatise  on  toleration,  and  his  noble  appeals  for  the 
family  of  the  murdered  Protestant,  Jean  Galas,  he  spoke 
in  clarion  tones,  which  thrilled  upon  the  ears  of  France. 
Franklin  called  on  Voltaire  with  his  grandson.  He  said: 
'My  son,  fall  down  on  your  knees  before  this  great  man.* 
The  aged  poet  gave  the  boy  his  blessing,  with  these  words, 
*  God  and  freedom.* 

"Louis  XV  ruled  fifty-nine  years.  In  boyhood  his  tutor 
taught  him  all  the  people  belonged  to  him.  At  fourteen,  he 


322  THE  LABORER; 

married  Maria,  the  daughter  of  Stanislaus,  the  king  of  Po- 
land. The  king,  at  one  of  his  private  suppers,  noticed  a  lady, 
Madam  de  Mailby,  whose  vivacity  attracted  him.  Simply 
to  torture  his  queen,  he  took  her  into  the  apartment,  from 
which  he  excluded  his  lowly  wife.  Maria  could  only  look 
to  God  for  comfort.  Madam  de  Mailby's  sister  supplanted 
her,  and  took  her  degrading  place.  She  was  taken  away  by 
death,  and  her  sister,  Madam  Tournelle,  became  the  king's 
favorite.  Wherever  she  went,  a  suite  of  court  ladies  fol- 
lowed in  her  train.  All  were  compelled  to  pay  homage  to 
the  reigning  favorite.  All  power  was  in  her  hands.  She  was 
the  dispenser  of  rewards  and  punishments.  Another  sister, 
MademoiselleValois,  and  the  Princess  of  Conti,  became  mis- 
tresses also  to  the  king.  Said  a  lady  at  this  period  :  '  Un- 
less God  interferes,  it  is  physically  impossible  that  the  State 
should  not  fall  to  pieces.' 

"These  died,  and  Madam  Pompadour  swayed  the  king's 
mind  for  twenty  years.  Her  power  became  unlimited  and 
invincible.  Her  heart  was  of  iron,  and  she  wielded  all  the 
terrors  of  court  banishment,  confiscation,  exile,  and  the 
Bastile.  It  is  said  that  a  witticism  of  Frederick  II  of  Prus- 
sia, at  her  expense,  plunged  the  nation  into  a  seven  years' 
war.  The  most  high  born  ladies  in  the  land  were  her 
waiting  women.  Her  steward  was  a  knight  of  the  order  of 
St.  Louis.  A  member  of  one  of  the  noblest  families  walked 
by  her  side,  with  a  cloak  under  his  arm,  to  spread  over  her 
when  she  should  alight  from  her  sedan  chair. 

"She  summoned  embassadors  before  her  and  addressed 
them  in  the  style  of  royalty.  She  appointed  bishops  and 
generals,  and  filled  all  the  most  important  offices  in  the  State 
and  Church,  with  those  who  would  do  her  homage.  She 
dismissed  ministers  and  created  cardinals,  declared  war,  and 
made  peace.  She  said  to  the  Abbe  de^Beris :  CI  have  all 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  323 

the  nobility  at  my  feet,  and  my  lap  dog  is  weary  with  their 
fawnings.'  When  this  woman  found  her  charms  waning, 
she  ministered  to  the  king's  appetite,  by  the  most  infamous 
institution  ever  tolerated  in  a  civilized  land.  Several  ele- 
gant houses  were  built  in  an  inclosure,  called  the  Pare  aux 
Cerfs,  near  Versailles,  and  were  used  for  the  reception  of 
beautiful  female  children,  who  awaited  the  pleasure  of  the 
king.  Many  years  of  the  life  of  Louis  XV  was  spent  in 
the  debauchery  of  girls  of  an  unmarriageable  age,  and  in  un- 
dermining their  principles  of  modesty  and  fidelity.  Chil- 
dren were  often  taken  by  force.  If  the  parents  remonstrated 
they  were  sent  to  the  Bastile.  The  cost  of  the  Pare  aux 
Cerfs  was  §25,000,000.  It  is  an  appalling  fact,  that  for 
half  a  century  France  was  governed  by  prostitutes. 

"De  Toqueville  said:  'The  revolution  will  ever  remain 
in  darkness  to  those  who  do  not  look  beyond  it.  Only  by 
the  light  of  ages  that  preceded  can  it  be  judged.'  This  so- 
cial degradation  was  one -of  the  strongest  incentives  to  the 
revolution.  Thought  was  the  great  emancipator.  Men  of 
genius  were  the  Titans  who  hove  up  the  mountains  of  prej- 
udice and  oppression.  They  simplified  political  economy, 
and  made  it  intelligible  to  the  popular  mind.  Voltaire  as- 
sailed, with  the  keenest  sarcasm  and  the  most  piercing  in- 
vectives, the  corruption  of  the  church.  Montesquieu  pop- 
ularized and  spread  before  the  national  view  the  policy  that 
might  render  a  people  prosperous  and  happy.  A  seductive 
eloquence,  in  favor  of  the  humble  class,  was  used  by  Rous- 
seau such  us  the  world  has  never  equaled. 

"The  minister  that  invented  a  new  tax  was  applauded  as 
a  man  of  genius.  The  offices  of  the  magistrates  were  sold. 
Judges  paid  enormous  sums  for  their  places,  and  then  sold 
their  decisions.  Titles  were  sold,  making  the  purchaser  one 
of  the  privileged  classes.  All  the  trades  and  professions  were 


324  THE  LABORER; 

sold.  The  number  of  trades  and  offices  sold  amounted  to 
300,000.  An  army  of  200,000  tax-gatherers  devoured 
every  thing.  To  extort  subsistence  from  a  starving  people, 
the  most  cruel  expedients  were  adopted.  Galleys,  gibbets, 
dungeons,  and  racks  were  called  into  requisition.  When 
the  corn  was  all  gone  the  cattle  were  taken.  The  ground 
became  sterile  for  want  of  manure.  Men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren yoked  themselves  to  the  plow.  The  population  died 
off,  and  beautiful  France  was  becoming  a  place  of  graves. 

u  No  language  can  describe  the  dismay  in  the  homes  of 
the  peasants  when  the  tax-gatherer  darkened  their  doors. 
The  seed  corn  was  taken,  the  cow  driven  off,  and  the  pig 
taken  from  the  pen.  Mothers  pleaded,  with  tears,  that  food 
might  be  left  for  their  children.  The  sheriff,  used  to  scenes 
of  misery,  had  a  heart  of  rock.  He  went  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  bailiffs  to  protect  him  from  violence. 

"The  government  seemed  to  desire  to  keep  the  people 
poor.  These  despotic  kings  would  desolate  their  realms 
with  taxation,  and  would  excite  wars  that  would  exhaust 
energy  and  paralyze  industry.  The  people  thus  impover- 
ished and  kept  in  ignorance  might  bow  submissively  to  the 
yoke.  The  wars  which,  in  endless  monotony,  are  inscribed 
upon  the  pages  of  history,  were  mostly  waged  by  princes, 
so  as  to  engross  the  attention  of  their  subjects.  When  a  des- 
pot sees  that  public  attention  is  likely  to  be  directed  to  any 
of  his  acts,  he  immediately  embarks  in  some  war  to  divert 
the  nation.  This  is  the  invariable  source  of  despotism.  A 
few  hundred  thousand  people  are  slaughtered,  and  millions 
of  money  squandered  in  a  senseless  war.  When  a  peace  is 
made,  it  brings  no  repose  to  the  people,  who  must  toil  and 
starve  to  raise  money  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  war.  In 
general,  such  has  been  the  history  of  Europe  for  a  thousand 
years.  Despots  are  willing  that  billows  of  blood  should 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  325 

surge  over  the  land,  that  the  cries  of  the  oppressed  may  be 
drowned.  So  excessive  has  been  the  burden  of  taxation,  that 
it  has  been  calculated  if  the  produce  of  an  acre  amounted 
to  sixteen  dollars,  the  king  took  ten,  the  proprietor  five,  leav- 
ing the  cultivator  one.  In  1785,  Thomas  Jefferson,  from 
Paris,  wrote  to  Mrs.  Trist,  saying:  c  Of  20,000,000  sup- 
posed to  be  in  France,  19,000,000  are  more  wretched,  ac- 
cursed under  every  circumstances  of  human  existence,  than 
the  most  conspicuously  wretched  individual  in  the  United 
States.' 

"  Louis  XVI  was  an  amiable  young  man,  of  morals  most 
singularly  pure  for  that  age.  He  spent  his  leisure  at  lock- 
making.  It  was  upon  the  head  of  this  benevolent,  good  king 
the  vials  of  popular  wrath  were  emptied,  which  had  been 
treasured  up  for  so  many  reigns.  The  nation  was  in  debt, 
the  interest  could  not  be  paid  without  borrowing  or  increas- 
ing the  taxes.  This  the  nation  could  not  bear.  The  sugges- 
tion of  Necker,  to  give  the  people  a  voice  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  affairs,  and  to  tax  high-born  men,  met  with  oppo- 
sition. 

u There  were  80,000  nobles,  inheriting  the  pride  of  feu- 
dal power,  with  thousands  of  dependents  on  their  smiles. 
There  were  officers  in  the  army,  men  of  wealth  who  had 
purchased  titles  of  nobility.  There  were  100,000  persons 
who  had  in  various  ways  purchased  immunity  from  the 
burdens  of  the  State.  These  were  hated  by  the  people, 
and  despised  by  the  nobles.  There  were  200,000  priests, 
and  60,000  monks.  There  were  the  collectors  of  the  rev- 
enue, and  all  the  vast  army  of  office-holders.  The  mass  of 
the  people  were  nearly  slaves,  unarmed,  unorganized,  and 
uneducated.  They  "had  been  dispirited  by  ages  of  oppres- 
sion, and  had  no  means  of  combining  or  uttering  a  voice 
that  could  be  heard. 
29 


326  THE  LABORER; 

"The  French  revolution  was  accelerated  by  a  want  of 
bread,  or  a  short  harvest,  which  is  often  short  where  so  few 
are  the  producers.  The  most  vigorous  efforts  were  adopted 
to  supply  Paris  with  food.  Nearly  1,000,000  people  were 
within  its  walls.  Vast  numbers  had  crowded  into  the  city 
from  the  country,  hoping  to  obtain  food.  No  law  could  re- 
strain such  multitudes  of  men,  actually  dying  with  hunger. 
As  it  was  better  to  die  with  a  bullet  than  with  slow  starva- 
tion, they  would  at  all  hazards  break  into  the  dwellings  of 
the  wealthy  and  into  magazines.  The  sufferings  of  the  peo- 
ple were  so  intense,  that  military  bands  had  to  convoy  provis- 
ions through  the  famished  districts.  The  peasants,  who 
saw  their  children  dying  and  gasping  with  hunger,  would  at- 
tack the  convoys  with  the  ferocity  of  wolves.  M.  Foulon, 
who  was  at  one  time  the  prime  minister,  said :  llf  the  peo- 
ple are  hungry  let  them  eat  grass;  it  is  good  enough  for 
them  ;  my  horses  eat  it.  Let  the  people  be  mowed  down  like 
grass.'  After  awhile  the  people  said :  'You  wanted  us  to 
eat  hay,  you  shall  eat  some  yourself.'  They  tied  a  truss  of 
hay  around  his  neck,  and  hung  him  on  a  lamp-post. 

"The  morning  of  the  fifth  of  October  dawned  stormy, 
damp,  and  cold.  There  were  thousands  in  Paris  who  had 
eaten  nothing  that  morning  for  thirty  hours.  The  women 
of  the  humble  classes  were  in  an  awful  state  of  destitution 
and  misery.  The  populace  of  Paris  were  actually  starving. 
An  energetic  woman,  half  delirious  with  woe,  seized  a  drum 
and  strode  through  the  streets  beating  it,  occasionally  shriek- 
ing l  BREAD!  BREAD!  breadV  She  collected  a  number 
of  women,  which  rapidly  increased  to  8,000.  Such  a  strange 
apparition  the  world  never  saw  before.  Like  a  swelling  in- 
undation the  living  flood  rolled  through  the  streets,  and  soon 
a  cry  was  heard,  c  To  Versailles.'  A  few  of  the  most  furi- 
ous had  pistols  and  guns.  Gloomy  winter  had  now  com- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  327 

menced,  and  there  was  no  money,  no  bread.  The  aristo- 
cratic party  all  over  the  realm  sent  across  the  frontiers  all 
the  funds  they  could  collect.  They  wished  to  make  France 
as  weak  as  possible,  so  that  the  people  might  be  more  easily 
subjected  again  to  the  feudal  yoke  by  the  armies  of  foreign 
despots.  In  Paris  alone  there  were  200,000  beggars.  It  is 
one  of  the  greatest  marvels  that  such  a  mass  of  men,  liter- 
ally starving,  could  have  remained  so  quiet.  The  resources 
of  the  kingdom  were  exhausted  during  the  winter  in  feeding 
the  towns  of  France. 

u  The  wealth  of  the  Church  was  enormous.  It  was  valued 
at  $800,000,000.  The  result  of  all  this  was  a  cruel  war 
in  France — a  struggle  between  the  nobles  and  the  people.  It 
induced  the  nations  of  Europe  to  send  their  armies  to  force 
France  to  assume  their  old  form  of  government.  The  peo- 
ple looked  on  the  nobles  and  privileged  classes  as  their  ene- 
mies, among  them  the  king  and  queen.  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son resided  in  Paris,  and  he  said  of  Louis  XVI:  '  He  had  a 
queen  of  absolute  sway  over  his  weak  mind  and  timid  virtue, 
a  character  the  reverse  of  his  on  all  points.  This  angel,  as 
gaudily  painted  in  the  rhapsodies  of  Burke,  with  some  smart- 
ness of  fancy  but  no  sound  sense,  was  proud,  disdainful  of 
restraint,  indignant  at  obstacles  to  her  will,  eager  in  pursuit 
of  pleasure,  and  firm  enough  to  hold  to  her  desires  or  perish 
in  their  wreck.  Her  inordinate  gamblings  and  dissipation, 
with  those  of  the  clique,  Count  de  Artoise,  and  others,  had 
been  a  sensible  item  in  the  exhaustion  of  the  treasury,  which 
called  into  action  the  reforming  hand  of  the  nation.  Her  op- 
position to  it,  her  inflexible  perverseness  and  dauntless  spirit, 
led  her  to  the  guillotine,  and  drew  the  king  on  with  her, 
and  plunged  the  world  into  crimes  and  calamities  which  will 
forever  stain  the  pages  of  history.  I  have  ever  believed,  had 
there  been  no  queen  there  would  have  been  no  revolution. 


328  THE  LABORER; 

The  king  would  have  gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  wisdom 
of  his  sound  counselors,  who,  guided  by  the  increased  light 
of  the  age,  wished  only  to  advance  the  principles  of  their 
social  constitution.  The  deed  which  closed  the  mortal  ca- 
reer of  these  sovereigns  I  shall  neither  approve  nor  con- 
demn.' 

"Proudhomme  asserts  the  number  of  the  victims  who 
were  sent  to  the  guillotine  as  18,603.  These,  added  to  those 
who  perished  by  civil  war,  make  1,022,351.  The  Jacobin 
leaders,*  trembling  before  Europe  in  aims,  felt  that  there 
was  no  safety  but  in  annihilation  of  all  its  internal  enemies. 
Danton,  Murat,  and  Robespierre  were  not  men  who  loved 
cruelty — they  were  resolute  fanatics,  who  believed  it  to  be 
well  to  cut  oft  the  heads  of  many  thousands  of  aristocrats, 
that  a  nation  of  30,000,000  might  enjoy  popular  liberty. 
While  the  revolutionary  tribunal  was  thus  mercilessly  ply- 
ing the  ax  of  the  executioner,  the  National  Convention, 
where  the  Jacobins  ruled  supremely,  was  enacting  many 
laws  that  breathed  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  liberty.  The 
taxes  were  equally  distributed  in  proportion  to  the  property. 
Provision  was  made  for  the  instruction  of  youth,  and  the 
emancipation  of  slaves  abroad. 

"In  the  reign  of  Louis  XV,  Lettres  de  Cachet  were  issued. 
Whoever  were  the  possessors  of  these  could  get  whom  they 
pleased  into  prison.  All  those  who  had  influence  at  court 
could  obtain  them.  The  king  could  not  refuse  a  mistress 
or  a  courtier.  They  were  distributed  as  freely  as  postage 
stamps.  None  felt  any  degree  of  security  from  those  who 
could  get  hold  of  them  from  being  sent  to  the  Bastile, 
which  was  a  massive,  cold,  damp  prison.  Many  of  its  cells 
were  built  in  the  shape  of  a  bottle,  into  which  the  prisoner 

*  A  society  of  revolutionists,  who  held  secret  meetings  in  the  monastery 
of  the  Jacobine  monks,  to  direct  the  proceedings  of  the  National  Convention. 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  329 

was  let  down,  and  his  food  thrown  to  him.  This  gloomy 
prison  was  destroyed  in  July,  1790. 

u  On  the  20th  of  June,  1791,  the  king  and  his  family  left 
Paris  for  a  foreign  country,  and  were  brought  back,  which 
was  taken  as  evidence  that  they  intended  to  join  the  enemies 
of  France.  They  were  incarcerated  in  the  Temple  as  pris- 
oners. The  king  was  vacillating  at  times,  making  strong 
promises  to  the  people,  putting  on  their  badges,  and  then  en- 
during for  it  reproaches  from  his  wife.  In  prison  he  was 
separated  from  his  wife  and  children.  In  July,  1793,  aP~ 
pears  this  decree:  'The  Committee  of  Public  Safety  de- 
crees that  the  son  of  Capet  shall  be  separated  from  his  mother^ 
and  committed  to  the  charge  of  a  tutor/  This  beautiful  boy 
endured  untold  miseries,  hunger,  and  every  indignity  that 
could  be  put  on  him.  Worn  out  by  sickness  and  cruelty,  in 
May,  1795,  he  died,  aged  ten  years  and  two  months.  On 
the  morning  of  the  2ist  of  December,  1792,  Louis  XVI  was 
executed.  A  few  months  afterward  his  queen  suffered  the 
same  fate."  * 

Foreign  nations  interfered,  which  resulted  in  the  rise  of 
Napoleon  to  save  France.  None  can  read  the  story  of  this 
family  without  being  affected.  The  lesson  this  revolution 
teaches  us  is  that  we  can  not  multiply  philosophers  and  the 
machinery  of  government  without  injuring  the  people.  To 
human  forbearance  there  is  a  limit.  Men  will  not  quietly 
die  with  hunger  when  others  have  more  than  they  can 
consume.  The  Due  d' Orleans  went  to  a  meeting  of  the 
king's  cabinet  with  a  loaf  of  bread  made  of  fern  leaves. 
He  said  to  the  king:  4>>  Sire,  see  the  kind  of  bread  your 
subjects  eat." 

The  Americans  should  be  thankful  that  they  can  right 
their  wrongs  without  resorting  to  killing  men  by  machin- 

*  Harper  &  Brothers  are  the  publishers  of  Abbott's  "  French  Revolution." 


330  THE  LABORER; 

ery.  They  have  a  vote  given  to  them,  which  they  can  use 
to  clear  away  all  their  wrongs.  The  first  wrong  done  to  the 
American  people  was  to  let  men  have  land  who  did  not  in- 
tend to  cultivate  it  with  their  own  hands.  The  motive  was 
to  get  others  to  work  for  them.  The  quantity  of  land  that 
Sturgis  purchased  of  the  Kansas  Indians  will  make  a  State 
equal  in  area  to  Massachusetts.  This  man  may  not  be 
permitted  to  keep  this  land.  He  bases  his  claim  upon  this: 
Indians  can  sell  their  own  lands  to  whom  they  please.  In- 
dians, in  the  State  of  New  York,  living  near  Buffalo,  have 
sold  their  claims  to  speculators. 

"The  grant  of  land  to  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  is 
47,000,000  of  acres.  To  the  Central  Pacific  35,000,000 
of  acres.  To  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  17,000,000  of  acres. 
The  aggregate  number  of  acres  granted  by  Government,  for 
railroad  purposes,  is  154,201,584  acres,  equal  in  extent,  if 
placed  in  one  body,  to  the  area  of  the  States  of  New  Yo/k, 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  New  England.*' 

"There  are  plenty  of  honest  men  in  the  community 
who  will  never  believe  in  the  possibility  of  our  law-makers 
lending  their  sanction  to  a  profligate  expenditure  of  the  peo- 
ple's money.  To  such  we  commend  a  paragraph  from  the 
The  Stockholder:  'Some  able  gentlemen  have  this  matter 
[The  Northern  Pacific  Railroad]  in  hand,  and  mean  to  get 
a  subsidy^  from  the  Government,  which  will  make  their 
scheme  a  rich  mine,'  etc.  The  National  Government  was 
never  organized  for  taxing  the  people  for  private  companies. 
As  its  charter  of  privileges  now  stands,  at  no  distant  day  it 
will  be  worth  $100,000,000,  through  the  settlement  of  lands 
along  its  route.  This  modest  corporation  wants  help  of  the 
United  States  to  the  amount  of  $60,000,000.  This  is  cer- 
tainly the  most  brilliant  piece  of  railroad  financiering  re- 

*  Chicago  Tribune,     j-  SUBSIDY,  aid  in  money  from  governments — a  tax. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  331 

cently  heard  of.  If  the  United  States  is  really  going  into 
the  railroad  business  to  this  extent,  it  had  better  go  in  all 
over,  lay  out,  build,  equip,  run  the  railways,  and  pocket  the 
receipts,  which  is  something  to  the  purpose.  We  do  not  like 
this  one-sided  business  of  giving  away  every-thing  and  get- 
ting nothing.  It  is  all  outgo  and  no  income  for  Samuel."* 

God's  earth  has  too  long  been  made  the  sport  of  specula- 
tors. It  was  given  to  the  people — to  those  who  would  oc- 
cupy and  use  it.  Carlyle  says:  "The_earth  belongs  to 
those  two — to  God,  and  to  those  of  his  children  who  have 
worked  well,  or  who  will  work  well  upon  it."  John  Locke 
says:  "The  earth  was  given  for  the  use  of  the  industrious, 
and  labor  was  to  be  his  title  to  it."  J.  S.  Mill  says :  "  Labor 
is  necessary  to  clear,  to  drain,  and  cultivate  the  land  and 
upon  this  rests  the  sole  foundation  of  the  title  to  property  on 
the  earth." 

These  are  but  the  echoes  of  common  sense  ;  and  yet  the 
rulers  of  the  country  are  squandering  the  land,  upon  those 
who  do  not,  and  will  not,  work  upon  it ;  to  those  who  are 
mere  speculators  out  of  the  sweat  of  multitudes  who  toil  on 
the  farms,  and  in  the  work-shops  of  the  country  !  This 
is  the  source  of  nearly  all  overgrown  fortunes.  It  is  the 
chief  cause  of  such  a  concentration  of  capital  as  enables  a 
few  to  monopolize  breadstuff's,  and  thus  make  another  ter- 
rible assessment  upon  the  working  classes.  It  enables  oth- 
ers to  bribe  Congressmen  and  State  Legislators  to  give  them 
abundant  plunderings. 

Quetalbet  says:  "Society  prepares  the  crimes  the  crimi- 
nals commit."  Land  monopoly,  fostered  by  Legislatures, 
causes  crime.  If  all  the  idle  lands  in  the  States  were  to  be 
sold  it  would  reform  society.  What  an  enormous  amount 
of  crime  the  Pacific  Railroad  will  cause !  The  tea  and  other 

*  Editorial  from  the  Commercial  of  May,  1868. 


332  THE  LABORER; 

products  it  will  brins;  we  can  do  without.  Mrs.  Grant  says: 
" Before  the  Revolution  every  family  had  a  cow."  Tea  was 
not  known  then.  Milk  and  bread  was  one  item  of  food.  A 
crime  was  not  known.  Says  the  Commissioner  of  Statistics  : 
"•In  1861,  among  4,000  people  there  was  one  who  committed 
a  crime  against  property.  In  1867,  there  was  one  property 
crime  occurred  among  2,360  people." — Ohio  Report. 

Banks  favor  a  few  in  this  manner:  Twenty  men  each  pos- 
sessing a  house  worth  $1,000,  as  one  man  pledge  them 
to  the  Comptroller,  who  gives  them  20,000  beautiful  pieces 
of  paper,  which  are  called  dollar  bills,  for  which  unthinking 
laborers  will  clothe  and  feed  a  part  of  their  number,  while 
they  are  building  another  twenty  houses.  These  are  given 
to  the  authorities  for  another  $20,000,  under  the  pretense 
that  society  needs  more  capital.  The  pledger  receives  rents 
for  these  houses  while  in  pledge.  In  this  wicked  manner, 
by  pledging  what  is  most  valuable,  a  few  fill  the  land  with 
railroads,  the  profits  of  which  keep  men  from  work.  The 
good  Franklin  could  print  $4,000,000.  His  rulers  loaned  it 
for  $22,000,  which  defrayed  the  expenses  of  his  colony. 
The  result  was — no  poverty,  no  crime,  no  homeless  men. 

u  Seeing  to  lend  money  at  interest,  that  is  to  say,  for  gain, 
that  is  to  say,  to  receive  money  for  the  use  of  money ;  seeing 
that  to  do  this  was  contrary,  and  is  still  contrary,  to  the 
principles  of  the  Catholic  Church  ;  and  among  Christians, 
or  professors  of  Christianity,  such  a  thing  was  never  heard 
of  before  what  is  impudently  called  the  Reformation. 

"The  ancient  philosophers,  the  Fathers  of  the  Church, 
both  Testaments,  the  Canons  of  the  Church,  the  decisions 
of  the  Popes  and  Councils,  all  agree,  all  declare,  that  to  take 
money  for  the  use  of  money  is  sinful.  Indeed,  no  such 
thing  was  ever  attempted  to  be  justified  until  the  savage 
Henry  VIII  had  cast  off  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope.  Jews 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  333 

did  it,  but  then  Jews  had  no  civil  rights.  They  were  re- 
garded as  moral  monsters."  : 

There  is  one  truth  very  certain,  that  labor  keeps  us  from 
perishing  ;  and  if  any  one  will  not  work,  he  does  an  injustice 
to  him  that  will  work.  He  that  will  not  work,  is  no  better 
than  a  robber.  Nor  is  it  just  to  choose  easy  work,  and  let 
another  do  the  hard  work.  The  generous,  noble  man  will 
resolve  to  do  a  part  of  the  hard  work.  Whatever  plans 
make  fortunes,  are  wicked  and  unscriptural.  The  means 
whereby  men  become  rich,  are  the  corruptions  of  ages;  and 
when  the  American  poor  have  drunk  deeper  from  the  cup 
of  suffering,  they  will  overthrow  the  causes  that  make  men 
idle  and  rich.  Our  Savior  condemned  riches,  and  told  his 
disciples  not  to  refuse  to  lend,  and  they  were  to  take  no  re- 
ward for  it.  The  opinions  of  the  "Fathers"  show  that  in- 
terest is  sinful  and  unjust. 

St.  Basil  says:  u  It  is  the  highest  cruelty  to  charge  the 
man  who  comes  to  borrow  to  preserve  a  wretched  exist- 
ence, or  to  seek  riches  from  his  pinching  poverty." 

St.  Clement  says  :  "  It  is  wrong  to  charge  usury  [money 
for  the  use  of  money]  for  the  money  which  should  be  ex- 
tended with  open  hearts  and  hands  to  the  needy." 

St.  Chrysostom  says:  "Nothing  surpasses  in  barbarity  the 
modern  practice  of  usury  ;  certainly  the  usurers  f  traffic  on 
other  people's  misfortunes,  and  seek  gain  through  their  ad- 
versity. They  dig  for  the  distressed  a  pit  of  misery." 

St.  Augustine  says:  "I  would  not  have  you  become  us- 
urers ;  it  is  repugnant  to  the  law  of  God.  Is  he  more  cruel 
who  steals  or  purloins  from  a  rich  man,  than  he  who  grinds 
a  poor  man  with  usury  and  becomes  reprehensible  ? " 

Leo  I  says:   u  It  is  true,  his  substance  swells  from  unjust 

*  William  Cobbett's  "  History  of  the  Reformation." 

•J-  USURY,  the  practice  of  taking  interest. — Lord  Bacon.     In  this  sense  not  used. 


334  THE  LABORER; 

and  fearful  additions;   whilst  the  substance  of  the  soul  de- 
cays.     Usury  of  money  is  a  rope  to  strangle  the  soul." 

St.  Hilary  says:  "What  is  more  cruel  than,  under  pre- 
tense of  relieving,  to- augment  the  borrower's  distress;  in- 
stead of  aiding  him,  to  add  to  his  wretchedness?" 

St.  Gregory  says:  "Hold  in  abhorrence  usury  dealings; 
love  your  neighbor,  not  your  money;  bid  farewell  to  sur- 
plus wealth  and  usury.  Excite  love  for  the  poor." 

St.  Ambrose  says:   "  Rich  men,  poverty  is  a  fertile  field 
for  your  plentiful  crops ;  he  who  has  not  the  necessaries  of 
'life  must  pay  you  usury.   This  is  the  height  of  cruelty." 

St.  Jerome  says:  "Some  persons  imagine  usury  is  sinful 
only  when  received  in  money.  The  sacred  writer  has  pro- 
scribed increase,*  so  that  you  can  not  receive  more  than  you 
gave.  Usury  is  prohibited  among  mankind  in  general." 

St.  Aquinas  says:  "  To  receive  usury  for  money  lent, 
is  radically  unjust — an  inequality  opposed  to  justice." 

Aristotle  says:  "It  is  allowable  for  men  to  acquire  gain 
by  fruits  and  animals.  The  practice  of  reaping  money  from 
money  is  repugnant  to  nature ;  its  gains  are  base." 

Plutarch  says:  "  By  giving  usury  and  entering  into  con- 
tracts, we  manufacture  the  yoke  of  our  slavery." 

Blackstone  says:  "  In  the  dark  ages  of  monkish  supersti- 
tion, to  wit,  during  the  prevalence  of  the  Catholic  religion, 
interest  was  laid  under  a  total  interdict." 

Kent,  in  his  "Commentaries"  says :  "Till  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury the  Jews  were  the  only  money-lenders.  Catholics  did 
not  like  to  engage  in  the  business  of  renting  money." 

The  rules  of  the  Catholic  Church,  as  given  by  its  Coun- 
cils from  time  to  time,  forbids,  in  the  strongest  language,  the 
loaning  of  money  on  interest.  The  Bulls  [letters]  of  many 
pontiffs,  the  decrees  of  many  emperors,  forbid  interest. 

^INCREASE,  a  Bible  term  meaning  corn,  wine,  oil — the  produce  of  the  earth 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  335 


Time,  the  great  changer  of  events,  was  destined  to  make 
these  precepts  of  no  effect.  Catholics  saw  the  Jews  and 
Lombards  [Italian  merchants  of  the  fourteenth  century]  ob- 
taining riches,  and  it  was  a  natural  thought  to  divert  these 
riches  into  other  channels.  In  1515,  Pope  Leo  X  invited 
sums  of  money  to  be  contributed  to  be  lent  to  the  poor,  or 
to  be  loaned  so  as  to  keep  men  from  becoming  poor.  In- 
dulgences were  granted  to  those  who  contributed  to  these 
charitable  funds,which  were  called  Mantes  Pietatls — Mount- 
ains of  Piety."  * 

It  appears  singular  to  us,  at  present,  that  it  should  have 
been  once  considered  unlawful  to  receive  interest  for  lent 
money  ;  but  this  circumstance  will  excite  no  wonder  when 
the  reason  of  it  is  fully  explained.  Those  who  borrowed 
money  required  it  only  for  immediate  use,  to  relieve  their  ne- 
cessities, or  to  procure  the  conveniences  of  life;  and  those 
who  advanced  it  to  such  indigent  persons  did  so  either 
through  benevolence  or  friendship. 

Acquiring  money  by  money  was  long  detested,  and  this 
feeling  was  strengthened  by  severe  papal  laws.  The  people 
often  contrive  means  to  render  the  faults  of  legislators  less 
hurtful.  This  was  devised.  A  capital  was  collected,  to  be 
lent  to  the  poor  on  pledges  without  interest.  This  idea 
was  suggested  by  the  Emperor  Augustus, who  sold  the  prop- 
erty of  criminals,  and  lent  the  money,  without  interest,  on 
pledges.  Severus  lent  money  to  purchase  land  without  in- 
terest, and  took  his  pay  in  produce. 

The  Pope  changed  burdensome  vows  into  donations  to 
41  lending-houses."  The  rich  gave  money  so  as  to  legitimate 
children  not  born  in. wedlock.  Indulgences  and  holy-water 
created  a  capital.  The  Pope  called  these  holy  mountains  of 


*"  Usury  and  Banking,"  by  Jeremiah  O'Calligan,  Catholic  Priest,  New  York. 
1856.     A  valuable  book  of  550  pages,  full  of  good  teaching  from  the  Fathers. 


336  THE  LABORER; 

piety  legal.  In  1456,  Bernardinus  went  around  preaching 
against  the  Jews,  gaming,  intemperance,  extravagance  in 
dress.  He  founded  lending  houses,  and  collected  money  for 
them  to  keep  people  from  becoming  poor.  A  gratuity  was 
solicited  for  the  lending  servants,  which  afterward  became 
a  regular  assessment,  to  pay  expenses. 

These  bancos  de  poveri  have  become  mountains  of  misery. 
Half  of  those  who  use  them  lose  their  pledges.  They  lead 
men  into  employments  that  make  them  poor,  and  keep  them 
from  working  in  the  earth.  Banks  are  contrivances  to  get 
toiling  men  to  build  public  works  for  idle  thinking  men. 

The  Cincinnati  Suspension  Bridge  Co.,  pledge  property 
paying  interest  while  pledged,  and  get  a  million  paper  dollars, 
which  cost  but  little,  and  rear  a  structure  that  will  yield  in 
ten  or  twenty  years  $200,000  as  a  yearly  revenue,  keeping 
a  few  in  idleness.  This  would  be  a  nice  sum  to  teach  chil- 
dren in  school  exercises.  Those  who  built  the  bridge,  fed 
and  clothed  the  builders,  or  use  the  bridge,  should  own  it, 
which  may  be  done  in  this  way:  Let  the  State  issue  "  bills  of 
credit"  to  this  community,  who  will  pay  the  State  interest, 
and  devote  the  tolls  to  paying  interest  and  principal. 

The  argument  used  for  a  few  owning  roads  and  bridges 
is  that  communities  can  not  make  them  pay.  This  applies  to 
the  past  when  population  was  thin.  The  future  will  be  dif- 
ferent, when  the  people  are  numerous.  The  working  peo- 
ple, through  their  representatives,  have  a  right  to  offer  to  the 
owners  of  this  bridge  its  cost  in  money,  based  on  the  prop- 
erty of  the  State,  and  say,  uWith  this  money  buy  farms,  cul- 
tivate them,  and  be  men.  This  is  a  sure  business.  Laborers 
are  fast  becoming  their  own  merchants  and  employers." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

STATESMEN    AND    POLITICAL    ECONOMISTS. 

SKETCHES  OF  WASHINGTON — LIVINGSTON — MORRIS — HAMILTON — SEDGWICK 
AMES — WOLLCOTT — BURR — ADAMS  —  JEKFKRSON — OPINIONS  OF  ECONO- 
MISTS— POTTER — MORE — SMITH — MALTHUS — SAY — RICARDO — PALEY. 

"  My  son,  see  with  how  little  reason  the  world  is  governed." — CHESTESFIELD. 

[RESIDENT  WASHINGTON,"  says  Mr.  Jef~ 
ferson:  "entertained  serious  effects  from  the  self- 
created  'Democratic  Societies'  of  that  day,  and  he 
believed  they  would  destroy  the  government  if  not  discon- 
tinued. 

"Chancellor  Livingston,  on  reaching  France,  was  coolly 
received.  He  showed  that  his  republicanism  was  unaggres- 
sive.  His  personal  tastes  and  habits  were  far  removed  from 
the  Jacobin  standard.  Few  of  Bonaparte's  courtiers,  aspiring 
to  the  dignity  of  the  ancient  regime,  approached  the  so- 
cial plane  of  the  stately  Patroon.  Many  of  them  were  up- 
starts compared  with  him  in  personal  and  family  pretensions. 
His  wealth  was  reported  to  be  ducal.  His  hereditary  pos- 
sessions were  greater  than  half  a  dozen  French  marquisates 
in  the  days  of  the  Bourbons.  He  sat  in  the  revolutionary 
and  pre-revolutionary  congresses.  A  score  of  his  family 
of  the  existing  generation,  and  more  than  twice  that  number 
of  kinsmen,  had  borne  high  civic  and  military  commissions. 
His  whole  life  had  been  spent  in  the  highest  range  of  office. 

"Morris  was  one  of  these  gigantic  breed  of  speculators, 


338  THE  LABORER; 

whom  Jefferson  could  scarce  help  abhorring.  He  declared 
for  a  perpetual  Senate,  approved  by  the  chief  magistrate,  and 
he  must  have  great  personal  property.  It  must  have  aristo- 
cratic spirit ;  it  must  love  to  lord  it  through  pride.  It  was 
palace  building,  and  buying  vacant  lands  that  consigned  him 
to  a  prison,  in  which  he  died. 

"  Hamilton  called  Democracy  a  blind  and  deformed  mon- 
ster. His  luxury  and  manners  exceeded  those  of  the  proud- 
est English  nobleman.  He  disliked  the  Constitution,  and 
had  but  little  share  in  forming  it.  His  plan  was  to  obliter- 
ate State  sovereignties,  the  chief  magistrate  making  the  gov- 
ernors. The  National  Legislature  was  to  control  their  laws. 
Their  general  concerns  were  to  be  subject  to  the  National 
Courts.  He  called  the  Constitution  a  frail,  worthless  fabric, 
and  said  that  all  communities  divide  themselves;  the  first 
are  rich  and  well  born,  the  other  the  mass  of  the  people.  It 
is  quoted  and  believed,  that  the  voice  of  the.  people  is  the 
voice  of  God.  It  is  not  true,  in  fact ;  the  people  are  turbu- 
lent and  changeable  ;  they  seldom  judge  or  determine  right. 
Give  to  the  first  a  distinct  share  of  the  government :  noth- 
ing but  a  permanent  body  can  check  the  improvidence  of 
democracy.  Their  turbulent  disposition  requires  checks,  or 
ends  in  despotism,  and  is  destructive  to  public  morality. 

"Fisher  Ames  believed  that  Democracy  is  nothing  in  it- 
self. It  is  a  dismal  passport  to  a  more  dismal  hereafter. 

"Theodore  Sedgwick  said  :  We  have  placed  at  the  head 
of  government  a  semi-maniac  [Jefferson],  who,  in  his  so- 
berest senses,  is  the  greatest  marplot  in  nature.  What  think 
you  of  a  Democracy  ?  Will  it  progress  successfully  till  all 
its  evils  are  felt  ?  This  state  of  things  can  not  exist  long. 
The  enfeebling  policy  of  Democracy  will  produce  such  in- 
tolerable evils  as  will  necessarily  destroy  their  cause. 

"Oliver  Wollcott  believed  our  government  would  never 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  339 

be  very  permanent.  He  could  not  believe  that  a  people, 
who  had  gone  through  the  distresses  of  the  Revolution,  and 
arisen  from  extreme  poverty,  could  so  soon  forget  their  suf- 
ferings, as  to  sport  with  the  enjoyment  of  their  greatest 
social  happiness,  and  expose  its  continuance  to  the  utmost 
hazard. 

u  Aaron  Burr's  plan  was  to  divide  the  Union  at  the  Alle- 
ghanies,  and  attack  Mexico.  He  embarked  300  men  in  fif- 
teen boats.  He  was  arrested,  gave  bail  for  $3,000,  and  fled 
to  England,  and  was  banished  from  there.  His  expedients 
to  keep  off  hunger  were  akin  to  beggary.  It  was  his  ambi- 
tion to  have  the  manners  of  a  Chesterfield  and  the  morals 
of  a  Rochester. 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  said  :  '  Certain  causes  had  long  since  pro- 
duced an  overcharge  of  the  class  of  competitors  for  learned 
occupations  and  great  distress  among  the  supernumerary 
candidates,  and  the  more  so  as  their  habits  of  life  had  dis- 
qualified them  for  re-entering  among  the  laboring  classes. 
The  remedy  he  proposed  was  to  make  agriculture  a  scien- 
tific profession,  and  thus  list  the  supernumeraries  into  an 
employment,  where  they  would  find  occupation  for  the 
body  and  the  mind.' 

ulThe  charitable  schools,  instead  of  storing  the  minds  of 
pupils  with  a  lore  which  the  present  state  of  society  does 
not  call  for ;  which,  converted  into  schools  of  agriculture, 
might  restore  them  to  that  branch  qualified  to  enrich  and 
honor  themselves,  and  to  increase  the  productions  of  nature, 
instead  of  consuming  them.  A  gradual  abolition  of  the  useless 
offices,  so  much  accumulated  in  all  governments,  might  also 
close  the  drain  from  the  laborers  of  the  fields^  and  lessen  the 
burdens  imposed  on  them.  By  these,  and  the  better  means 
which  will  occur  to  others,  the  surcharge  of  the  learned 
might  in  time  be  drawn  to  recruit  the  laboring  class  of  cit- 


34-O  THE  LABORER; 

izens.  The  sum  of  industry  increased,  that  of  misery  is  di- 
minished. The  strong  desire  of  men  to  live  by  the  labor  of 
their  beads  rather  than  their  hands — the  allurements  of  large 
cities  to  those  who  have  any  turn  for  dissipation,  threatens 
to  make  here,  as  in  Europe,  cities  the  sinks  of  voluntary 
misery !  He  held  in  little  esteem  the  education  that  makes 
men  helpless  in  the  common  affairs  of  life.  This  he  exem- 
plified by  the  example  of  a  man  who  had  been  to  Europe 
for  an  education.  On  a  journey  a  saddle-strap  broke,  and 
he  had  to  wait  till  some  common  man  came  along,  and  let 
out  the  strap  at  the  other  end/ 

u  Thomas  Jefferson  invented  the  best  form  of  a  mold- 
board  for  a  plow.  He  made  furniture  and  shod  horses. 
He  was  an  architect,  and  designed  his  own  house.  He 
thrashed  his  wheat  by  machinery,  at  the  rate  of  150  bushels 
a  day.  He  directed  the  labors  of  his  slaves  in  farming,  me- 
chanical pursuits,  and  cloth-weaving.  At  one  time  he  had 
fifty  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  One  of  his  slaves 
confessed  that  it  took  all  the  labor  of  the  slaves  to  feed  and 
wait  on  them.  This  was  a  cause  of  his  poverty  in  after  life. 
He  did  not  believe  in  his  grandsons  attending  medical  col- 
leges or  living  in  cities. 

"•John  Adams  was  classed  among  the  believers  of  mon- 
archy. The  proposition  that  the  people  are  the  best  keepers 
of  their  liberties  is  not  true  ;  they  are  the  worst  conceivable. 
They  are  no  keepers  at  all,  and  can  neither  judge, think,  nor 
will  as  a  political  body.  The  majority  would  invade  the  mi- 
nority sooner  than  a  monarchy."  * 

Madison  says:  "Democracies  have  ever  been  the  spec- 
tacles of  turbulence  and  contention  ;  have  ever  been  incom- 
patible with  personal  security  or  the  rights  of  property.  A 

*This  is  taken  from  H.  S.  Randall's  "Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson."  Some 
sentences  are  omitted.  The  language  is  unchanged. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  341 

large  body  of  men  is  more  apt  to  sacrifice  the  rights  of  the 
minority,  because  it  can  be  done  with  impunity.  Establish 
it  as  a  principle,  that  to  give  sanction  to  -law  it  must  be  ap- 
proved by  a  majority  at  the  ballot-box,  and  you  take  this  se- 
curity and  surrender  these  rights  to  the  most  capricious  and 
cruel  tyrants.  I  regret  to  see  this  growing  spirit  in  Con- 
gress and  throughout  the  country,  to  democratize  our  gov- 
ernment— to  submit  every  question,  whether  pertaining  to 
organic  or  municipal  laws,  to  the  vote  of  the  people.  God 
forbid  that  the  demagogism  of  this  day  should  prevail  over 
the  philanthropic  and  philosophic  statesmanship  of  our  fa- 
thers. Property  is  the  foundation  of  every  social  fabric.  To 
protect,  preserve,  and  perpetuate  rights  of  property,  society 
is  formed  and  governments  are  framed." 

Wolves  become  ravenous  by  hunger.  Lions  will  let  you 
pass  them  when  not  hungry.  If  every  man  had  a  home,  he 
would  let  the  homes  of  others  alone.  When  a  part  of 
mankind  are  selfish,  they  must  have  governments  to  help 
them.  Washington  had  land  sufficient  to  maintain  25,000 
persons.  Without  governments  he  could  not  collect  his 
rents.  If  this  land  belonged  to  the  cultivators,  there  would 
be  no  need  of  governments. 

The  writer  was  offered,  in  Indiana,  for  $300,  forty  acres  of 
land.  He  went  to  see  it  and  found  a  person  who  had  pur- 
chased a  tax  title,  and  had  built  a  cabin  on  it  !2ftXi6ft.  I 
told  him  the  owner  was  not  dead.  The  taxes  had  not  been 
paid  for  twelve  years.  He  wished  me  to  see  the  owner  of 
forty  acres  on  one  side,  so  that  he  could  have  a  road  from 
his  place,  which  was  surrounded  by  abrupt  and  impassable 
banks.  There  was  one  outlet,  the  owner  of  which  asked 
$300  for  the  land.  I  found  him  living  in  a  palace,  with  a 
tessellated  marble  floor.  The  ceiling  was  supported  by  Co- 
rinthian fluted  columns,  having  capitals  exquisitly  carved. 
30 


342  THE  LABORER; 

The  ceiling  was  a  surface  of  deep  panels  and  fine  carv- 
ings. This  land  speculator  had  every  luxury.  The  man 
who  wanted  this  land  would  have  to  save  for  six  years,  as 
he  was  married.  His  cabin  contained  three  bedsteads,  and 
sheltered  three  children  and  their  parents.  The  house  con- 
tained no  pictures,  books,  or  papers.  The  mother  had 
never  seen  any  of  the  fine  arts,  nor  heard  piano  music.  She 
told  me  they  went  in  their  wagon  nineteen  miles,  to  Indian- 
apolis. When  there  she  asked  a  householder  if  she  could 
boil  sorrie  coffee ;  this  was  refused.  The  two  pieces  of  land 
cost  $100. 

The  laws  the  "Fathers"  made  have  caused  these  social 
distinctions.  The  refinement  of  the  one  was  at  the  expense 
of  the  other.  Among  the  Fathers  not  one  favored  the  toil- 
ing classes,  except  Thomas  Jefferson.  He  compared  the 
Treasury  to  a  huge  turtle  laying  eggs  in  the  sand  for  foul 
birds  to  eat.  In  1795,  Hamilton  tried  to  get  an  act  passed 
so  that  not  less  than  4,000  acres  should  be  sold  to  one 
person.  For  forty  years  not  less  than  640  acres  were  sold 
at  a  time,  at  $2.50  per  acre,  which  compelled  many  to  pur- 
chase of  others.  John  Adams  said:  "  That  governments 
were  to  protect  the  rich  in  their  great  possessions  as  well 
as  the  poor  man  in  his.  *  *  *  All  the  officers  of  the  Gov- 
ernment must  be  gentlemen,  friends  and  connections  of  the  rich 
and  well  born."  *  Most  of  the  inequalities  of  life  are  from 
governments  and  are  inventions  of  the  avaricious  and  rich, 
to  strengthen  themselves  and  get  riches.  These  will  make 
half  slaves  of  the  poor,  and  deprive  them  of  their  birthright, 
the  public  lands — three-fourths  of  which  get  into  the  pos- 
session of  speculators.  M.  Turgot,  when  speaking  of  the 
first-formed  State  constitutions, said  :  "They  were  imitations 
of  the  customs  of  England  without  any  particular  motives." 

*  John  Adam's  "Defense  of  the  Constitutions,"  vol.  i,  page  373. 


A   REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  343 

What  domestic  economy  is  to  a  family,  so  is  political 
economy  to  a  nation.  Domestic  economy  takes  the  in- 
come of  a  family  and  proportions  it  to  what  it  will  purchase. 
For  instance,  a  woman  fed  herself  and  four  children  on  a 
dime  a  day.  How  it  was  done  may  be  known  by  referring  to 
chapter  first.  Political  economy  relates  to  a  nation's  labor, 
and  considers  how  many  may  be  taken  from  the  laboring 
classes  and  made  into  soldiers  and  servants,  so  as  not  to 
have  them  die  with  hunger,  or  accumulate  so  much  as  to 
be  able  to  revolt. 

Says  Bishop  Potter:  "We  are  far  from  denouncing  the 
luxuries  of  life.  We  do  not  condemn  the  possessor  of  a 
handkerchief  worth  $50,  or  a  $1,000  shawl.  We  have  a 
greater  respect  for  him  who  provides  handsomely  for  his 
family.  The  amount  of  enjoyment  principally  depends  on 
the  number  of  beings  enabled  to  obtain  a  comfortable  sub- 
sistence, with  satisfactory  security  for  its  continuance." 

This  writer  wrote  his  book  for  the  use  of  schools.  It  is 
strange  it  did  not  occur  to  him  that  those  who  create  costly 
things  are  ill  clad  and  often  hungry.  This  man  had  three 
sons :  one  became  an  architect,  one  a  general,  another  was 
a  rector  of  a  marble  church,  with  $10,000  a  year. 

A  report  of  a  Life  Insurance  Co.  contained  this :  Rt. 
Rev.  A.  Potter  was  insured  for  $5,000.  He  paid  $3,637. 
What  a  comment  on  one  who  wrote  a  treatise  showing 
how  u skill  and  industry  can  be  rendered  most  useful!" 

Sir  Thomas  More  was  born  in  London,  in  1480.  He 
was  the  adviser  of  Henry  VIII,  whom  he  offended  by  tell- 
ing him  privately  about  his  marriage  conduct.  He  was  sen- 
tenced to  lose  his  head,  which  was  done  so  awkwardly  that 
several  blows  were  struck  before  it  was  cut  off. 

In  his  book  "Utopia"  is  described  a  happy  society.  In 
this  book  is  this  language :  u  One  day  I  was  with  the  king, 


344  THE  LABORER; 

where  there  happened  to  be  a  lawyer,  who  took  occasion  to 
run  out  in  high  condemnation  of  the  severity  in  the  execu- 
tion of  thieves,  who  were  hanged  so  fast,  that  there  were 
sometimes  twenty  on  one  gibbet.  Said  he:  'How  comes 
it  to  pass  that  since  so  few  have  escaped,  and  yet  so  many 
thieves  are  still  robbing  in  all  places/ 

"I  took  the  boldness  to  speak  freely  before  the  cardinal, 
and  said  there  was  no  room  for  wonder  at  the  matter,  since 
the  way  of  punishing  thieves  was  neither  just  in  itself  nor 
good  for  the  public.  As  the  severity  was  too  great,  so  the 
remedy  was  not  as  effectual — simple  theft  not  being  so 
great  a  crime  that  it  ought  to  cost  a  man  his  life.  No 
punishment,  however  severe,  was  long  able  to  restrain  those 
who  can  find  no  other  way  of  a  livelihood.  In  this  not  only 
you  in  England,  but  in  a  greater  part  of  the  world,  imitate 
some  ill  master,  who  are  readier  to  chastise  their  scholars 
than  to  teach  them. 

"There  are  dreadful  punishments  against  thieves;  but  it 
were  much  better  to  make  such  good  provisions,  by  which 
every  man  ought  to  be  put  to  the  necessity  to  live,  and  so  be 
preserved  from  the  fatal  necessity  of  stealing,  and  dying 
for  it." 

Said  the  cardinal:  "There  has  care  enough  been  taken 
for  that.  There  is  husbandry,  by  which  they  may  make  a 
shift  to  live." 

More  replied:  " There  are  a  great  many  nobles  among 
you  that  are  drones — that  subsist  on  other  men's  labor — on 
the  labor  of  tenants — to  raise  their  revenues,  they  pare  them 
to  the  quick.  They  have  about  them  a  great  number  of 
idle  fellows,  who  never  learned  any  art  by  which  they  may 
gain  their  living ;  and  these,  as  soon  as  the  lord  dies,  or  they 
fall  sick,  are  turned  out  of  doors.  Your  lords  are  read- 
ier to  feed  idle  people  than  to  take  care  of  the  sick.  The 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  345 

heir  is  not  able  to  keep  together  so  great  a  family  as  his  pre- 
decessor did.  Now,  when  the  stomachs  of  those  that  are 
turned  out  doors  grow  sharp,  they  rob  no  less  keenly.  And 
what  else  can  they  do?  For,  when  by  wandering  about, 
they  have  worn  out  their  health,  their  clothes,  and  are  tat- 
tered and  look  ghastly,  men  of  quality  will  not  entertain 
them,  and  poor  men  dare  not  do  it ;  knowing  that  one  who 
has  been  bred  in  idleness  and  pleasure,  and  who  used  to  go 
about  with  his  sword  and  buckler,  despising  all  the  neigh- 
bors with  an  insolent  scorn,  as  far  below  him.  He  is  not 
fit  for  the  mattock  or  spade,  nor  will  he  serve  a  poor  man 
for  so  small  a  hire  and  so  low  a  diet  as  he  can  afford  to 
give  him/' 

Said  the  cardinal:  "In  them  consists  the  force  of  the  ar- 
mies for  which  we  have  occa'sion.  Their  birth  inspires 
them  with  a  nobler  sense  of  honor  than  is  to  be  found 
among  trades  or  plowmen." 

More  replied :  "  You  may  as  well  say  that  you  must 
cherish  thieves  on  account  of  wars,  for  you  will  never  want 
the  one  as  long  as  you  have  the  other;  and  as  robbers  are 
sometimes  gallant  soldiers,  so  soldiers  often  prove  brave  rob- 
bers— so  near  an  alliance  are  those  two  sorts  of  life.  The 
maintaining  of  many  useless  and  idle  persons,  will  ever  dis- 
turb you,  which  is  ever  to  be  considered  in  a  time  of  peace. 
Restrain  the  engrossing  of  the  rich,  who  are  as  bad  as  mon- 
opolies. Let  agriculture  be  set  up  again,  and  the  manufac- 
ture of  wool  be  regulated,  so  that  there  may  be  found  work 
for  these  idle  people,  whom  want  forces  to  be  thieves,  or  who, 
being  vagabonds,  will  certainly  be  thieves  at  last.  If  you  do 
not  find  a  remedy  for  these  evils,  it  is  in  vain  to  be  boast- 
ing of  your  severity  for  punishing  theft. 

u  He  is  an  unskillful  physician  who  can  find  out  no  other 
way  of  healing  without  putting  him  into  another  disease. 


346  THE  LABORER; 

So  he  that  can  find  no  other  way  for  correcting  the  errors 
of  the  people,  but  by  taking  from  them  the  conveniences  of 
life,  shows  that  he  knows  not  how  to  govern  a  free  nation." 

"  In  Utopia  every  man  has  a  right  to  every  thing.  They 
all  know  that  if  care  is  taken  to  keep  the  public  stores  full, 
no  private  man  can  want  any  thing — no  man  is  poor,  or  in 
necessity.  Though  no  man  has  any  thing,  yet  they  are  all 
rich.  What  justice  is  in  this,  that  a  nobleman,  a  goldsmith, 
a  banker,  or  any  other  man,  that  either  does  nothing  at  all 
or  is  employed  in  things  that  are  of  no  use  to  the  public,  should 
live  in  splendor  and  luxury? 

"A  carter,  a  smith,  or  a  plowman  that  works  harder  even 
than  the  beasts,  and  is  employed  in  useful  labor,  so  that  no 
commonwealth  could  hold  out  a  year  without  them,  can 
only  earn  a  livelihood  and  lead  a  miserable  life.  The  con- 
dition of  the  beasts  is  better  than  theirs.  These  men  are 
depressed  by  anxieties,  fruitless  employments,  and  tormented 
by  apparitions  of  want  in  their  old  age.  That  which  they 
get  by  their  daily  toil  does  not  maintain  them  at  present, 
and  is  consumed  as  fast  as  it  comes  in.  There  is  no  over- 
plus left  for  old  age. 

"  Is  not  the  government  unjust,  when  it  is  prodigal  of  its 
favors  to  goldsmiths,  gentlemen,  or  those  who  are  idle,  or 
live  by  flattery,  contriving  vain  pleasures,  and  take  no  care 
of  plowmen,  colliers,  or  smiths,  without  which  it  could  not 
subsist  ?  After  the  public  has  had  the  advantages  of  their 
services,  when  they  come  to  age,  sickness,  and  want,  their 
labor  is  forgotten,  then  they  are  left  to  die  in  great  misery. 
The  richer  sort  are  often  endeavoring  to  bring  the  hire  of 
laborers  lower  not  only  by  their  fraudulent  practices,  but  by 
the  laws  they  procure  to  make  this  effect.  Though  it  is  a 
thing  unjust  to  give  so  small  rewards  to  those  who  deserve 
so  well  of  the  public,  yet  they  have  given  these  hardships 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  347 

the  name  and  color  of  justice.  *  *  *  *  They  inclose  all 
into  pastures,  throw  down  houses,  pluck  down  towns,  and 
leave  nothing  standing  but  the  church,  to  be  made  a  sheep 
bouse.  These  good  and  holy  men  turn  all  dwelling-places 
and  glebe  lands  into  a  wilderness  and  desolation."  This 
last  clause  refers  to  driving  out  the  Scotch  people,  so  as  to 
make  fleeces  an  article  of  commerce,  the  source  of  their 
misery  from  that  day  to  this. 

Plato,  in  the  "  Fourth  Book  of  his  Republic,"  describes  a 
perfect  commonwealth,  "  where  kings  are  philosophers,  and 
philosophers  kings;  where  the  whole  city  might  be  in  the 
happiest  condition,  and  not  any  one  tribe  remarkably  happy 
beyond  the  rest  ;  where  the  laws  govern,  and  justice  is  es- 
tablished ;  where  the  guardians  of  the  law  are  such  in  re- 
ality, and  preserve  the  constitution,  instead  of  destroying  it, 
and  promote  the  happiness  of  the  whole  city,  and  not  their 
own  particularly ;  where  there  are  no  parties,  of  the  rich  and 
poor  at  war  with  each  other,"  etc. 

John  Milton  has  given  us  a  "  Ready  and  easy  way  to  es- 
tablish a  Free  Commonwealth."  His  plan  was  to  have  an 
assembly  of  senators  for  life:  u  They  must  have  the  forces 
by  sea  and  land,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and  liberty ; 
must  raise  and  manage  the  revenues,  with  inspectors  to  see 
how  it  was  employed,  with  power  to  make  laws,  and  treat 
on  commerce,  war,  and  peace,  etc."  Mr.  Hume,  in  his 
"Idea  of  a  Perfect  Commonwealth,"  would  have  elected 
representatives  with  executive  powers  and  the  prerogatives 
of  kings.  In  1663,  John  Locke  made  a  government  for 
Carolina,  in  which  were  to  be  barons,  caciques,  and  landgraves. 
The  first  was  to  have  12,000,  the  second  24,000,  .the  last 
80,000  acres  of  land. 

It  was  to  be  shown  in  Acadia  that  a  few  thousand  Cath- 
olics could  live  for  more  than  a  century  without  magistrates 


348  THE  LABORER; 

or  crimes ;  and  the  Utopia  of  More  was  a  possible  and  not 
a  visionary  scheme. 

Adam  Smith's  "Wealth  of  Nations"  all  should  read.  It 
contains  this  :  "Among  civilized  nations,  a  great  many  peo- 
ple do  not  labor  at  all,  many  consume  the  produce  of  ten 
times,  frequently  a  hundred  times,  more  labor  than  the  great- 
er part  of  those  who  work." 

Rev.  Mr.  Malthus,  in  his  books  "On  Population,"  says: 
"That  if  a  man  chooses  to  marry  without  a  prospect  of  sup- 
port to  his  family,  it  is  an  act  which  society  can  not  justly 
take  up,  prevent,  or  punish.  To  the  punishment  of  nature 
therefore,  he  should  be  left.  A  man  who  is  born  into  a 
world  already  possessed,  if  he  can  not  get  subsistence  from 
his  parents,  and  society  do  not  want  his  labor,  he  has  no 
claim  or  right  to  the  smallest  portion  of  food,  and,  in  fact, 
has  no  business  to  be  where  he  is.  At  nature's  mighty 
feast  there  is  no  vacant  cover  for  him.  She  tells  him  to  be- 
gone, and  she  will  quickly  execute  her  orders." 

In  his  "Political  Economy,"  he  says:  "  Statesmen,  sol- 
diers, sailors,  and  those  who  live  off  the  national  debt,  con- 
tribute powerfully  to  demand  and  distribution.  They  insure 
that  consummation  which  is  necessary  to  give  the  proper 
stimulus  to  the  exertion  of  industry." 

Jeremy  Bentham  read  in  a  coffee-house  this:  "The  only 
reasonable  and  proper  object  of  government  is  to  produce 
the  greatest  happiness  to  the  greatest  number."  Said  he: 
"At  the  sight  of  it,  I  cried  out  in  the  greatest  ecstasy."  He 
was  a  lawyer,  and  became  disgusted  with  law.  He  spent 
sixty  years  at  law  reforms,  in  putting  an  end  to  the  system. 
His  books  and  pamphlets  number  fifty.  Law  to  him  was 
the  offspring  of  a  barbarous  age,  the  patchwork  of  fifteen  cen- 
turies, a  huge,  shapeless,  and  bewildering  pile.  To  relieve 
the  tedium  of  study,  he  turned  wooden  bowls,  ran  in  bis 


The  rich,  to  keep  the  poor  from  perishing,  feed  them,  so  that  they  may  have  serv- 
ants. The  rich,  who  give  to  the  poor,  give  often  that  which  they  never  earned. 
"Thou  shalt  not  covet  other  men's  goods"  is  a  command  which,  if  observed,  would 
prevent  riches.  If  society  possess  the  banks,  roads,  railroads,  and  bridges,  and  the 
merchant  will  tell  his  neighbor  what  is  the  cost  of  goods,  and  that  association  will 
distribute  them  at  cost,  then  will  scenes  like  this  disappear.  Inequalities  will  al- 
ways exist  while  the  merchant  exists;  and  in  order  to  attain  equality  he  must  be 
destroyed.  Tobacco  and  drinking  habits  destroys  a  tenth  of  the  nation's  labor,  an 
amount  sufficient  to  rind  furnished  homes  for  all  Americans  who  become  of  age. 

7 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  349 

garden  for  exercise,  played  on  a  fiddle.  He  heated  his  house 
by  steam,  slept  in  a  sack,  and  thought  the  common  law  the 
perfection  of  absurdity. 

J.  Stuart  -Mill,  a  political  writer,  gives  us  this  piece  of  sat- 
ire :  "  The  lot  of  the  poor,  in  all  things,  should  be  regulated 
for  them,  not  by  them.  TJiey  should  not  be  required  to 
think  for  themselves.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  higher  class  to 
think  for  them.  This  function  the  higher  class  should  pre- 
pare to  perform  conscientiously,  and  their  whole  demeanor 
should  impress  the  poor  with  reliance  on  them.  The  rela- 
tion between  rich  and  poor  should  be  only  partially  author- 
itative; it  should  be  amiable,  moral,  sentimental ;  affection- 
ate tutelage  on  the  one  side,  respectful,  grateful  deference  on 
the  other.  The  poor  should  be  called  on  for  nothing,  but  to 
do  their  day's  work.  Their  morality  should  be  provided 
for  them  by  their  superiors. 

"The  poor  have  come  out  of  their  leading  strings,  and 
can  not  be  treated  like  children  any  more.  I  can  not  con- 
ceive how  any  person  can  persuade  himself  that  the  major- 
ity will  much  longer  consent  to  hew  wood  and  draw  water 
all  their  lives  in  the  service  and  for  the  benefit  of  others." 

Dr.  Chalmers,  writing  on  political  science,  says  :  "  Be- 
cause of  a  fertility  in  the  earth,  by  which  it  yields  a  surplus 
over  and  above  the  food  of  the  direct  and  secondary  laborers, 
that  we  command  the  services  of  a  disposable  population, 
who,  in  return  for  their  maintenance,  minister  to  the  pro- 
prietors of  this  surplus  all  the  higher  comforts  and  conveni- 
ences of  life" 

Dr.  Paley,  in  his  u  Political  Philosophy,"  taught—"  That 
the  condition  most  favorable  to  population  is  that  of  a  la- 
borious, frugal  people,  ministering  to  the  demands  of  an  op- 
'ulent  and  luxurious  nation;  because  this  situation,  whilst  it 
leaves  them  every  advantage  of  luxury,  exempts  them  from 
31 


350  THE  LABORER  ; 

the  evils  that  naturally  accompany  its  admission  into  any 
country." 

Blackstone,  in  his  u  Commentaries,"  declares:  "Among 
the  many  acts  men  are  daily  liable  to  commit,  160  are  pun- 
ished by  death."  If  any  should  be  hung  through  mistake, 
Dr.  Paley  kindly  advises  their  friends:  "To  reflect  that  he 
who  falls  by  a  mistaken  sentence  may  be  considered  as  fall- 
ing for  his  country." 

Robert  Owen  believed  that  the  drunkard  and  thief  were 
victims  of  circumstances.  In  his  "New  Moral  World," 
he  maintained  that  money  was  an  evil,  a  source  of  injustice, 
oppression,  and  misery  to  the  human  race — makes  some  the 
slavish  producers  of  wealth,  and  others  wasteful  consumers. 
He  believed  that  u  men  divided  into  employed  and  employ- 
ers, masters  and  servants,  would  cause  ignorance  and  pov- 
erty to  pervade  the  world."  Owen  prepared  two  memori- 
als for  the  Congress  at  Vienna,  in  1815,  in  which  were  these 
words — "Wealth,  privileges,  and  honors  are  the  playthings 
of  infants."  This  made  some  impression  on  it. 

MaryWollstonecraft,in  her  "Vindication  of  the  rights  of 
Women,"  says  :  "Such  combustible  material  can  not  long 
be  pent  up.  Getting  vent  in  foreign  wars  and  civil  insur- 
rections, the  people  acquire  some  power  in  the  tumult,  that 
obliges  their  rulers  to  gloss  over  their  oppressions  with  a 
show  of  right.  Agriculture,  commerce,  and  letters  expand 
the  mind.  Despots  are  compelled  to  make  covert  corruption 
hold  fast  the  power  which  was  formerly  snatched  by  open 
force.  A  baneful  gangrene  is  formed,  spread  by  luxury  and 
superstition,  the  sure  dregs  of  ambition.  The  indolent  pup- 
pet of  a  court  first  becomes  a  luxurious  monster  or  a  fas- 
tidious sensualist  and  an  instrument  of  tyranny.  It  is  the 
pestiferous  purple,  which  renders  the  progress  of  civilization 
a  curse^  and  warps  the  understanding,  till  men  of  sensibility 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  351 

doubt  whether  the  expansion  of  intellect  produces  a  greater 
portion  of  happiness  or  misery." 

Thomas  Carlyle,  a  "Writer  of  Books,"  said  :  "An  earth 
all  around,  crying,  come  and  till  me ; — yet  we  sit  here  en- 
chanted!  The  sun  shines  and  the  earth  calls;  and,  by  the 
governing  powers  and  impotences  of  England,  we  are  for- 
bidden to  obey.  *  *  *  The  Continental  people  are  export- 
ing our  machinery,  and  beginning  to  spin  cotton  for  them- 
selves. Sad  news,  but  irremediable.  The  saddest  news  is 
that  we  should  find  our  national  existence  depends  on  sell- 
ing cotton  a  farthing  an  ell  cheaper  than  any  other  people. 
Cotton  cloth  is  already  twopence  a  yard  or  less  ;  and  yet  bare 
backs  were  never  more  numerous  among  us.  Let  invent- 
ive men  cease  to  spend  their  existence  incessantly  contriv- 
ing how  cotton  cloth  can  be  made  cheaper,  and  try  to  in- 
vent how  cotton  cloth,  at  its  present  cheapness,  could  be 
divided  a  little  more  justlier  among  you." 

Thomas  Paine  hated  injustice  and  oppression.  He  was 
secretary  to  Congress  during  the  Revolution.  He  wrote 
then  the  "Crisis"  and  "Common  Sense,"  to  induce  the 
Americans  to  revolt.  In  his  "Rights  of  Man"  is  found  this : 
"We  see  in  countries  that  are  called  civilized,  youth  going; 
to  the  gallows  and  age  to  the  workhouse.  *  *  *  To  make 
one  rich,  many  must  be  made  poor;  neither  can  the  system 
be  supported  by  any  other  means." 

Rousseau,  born  in  1711,  and  dying  in  1 788,  was  hated  by 
the  authorities  for  his  opinions.  His  "Emille,"  a  treatise  on 
education,  could  not  be  tolerated.  He  was  banished  for  it. 
His  "Social  Contract"  says:  "Supply  an  administration 
with  money,  and  they  will  supply  you  with  chains.  The 
very  term  of  taxes  is  slavish.  Foreign  commerce  is  pro- 
ductive only  of  a  delusive  utility  to  the  kingdom  in  general. 
It  may  enrich  a  few  individuals,  and  perhaps  some  city. 


352  THE  LABORER; 

The  whole  nation  gains  nothing  by  it,  nor  are  any  of  the 
people  any  better  for  it.  It  is  required  that  no  greater  quan- 
tity of  land  be  given  than  is  necessary  for  the  subsistence 
of  the  occupiers." 

Earl  Stanhope,  born  in  1753,  and  dying  in  1816,  invented 
a  printing  press  and  a  calculating  machine,  and  was  the  im- 
prover of  canal  locks  and  stereotyping.  He  was  full  of 
enthusiasm  for  the  improvement  of  the  social  institutions, 
and  looked  with  complacency  on  the  French  Revolution  as 
an  attainment  of  that  end.  Lord  Holland  says  of  him  :  il  He 
was  in  some  senses  of  the  word  the  truest  Jacobin  I  have 
ever  known.  He  not  only  deemed  the  monarchy,  clergy,  and 
nobility,  but  property,  or  at  least  landed  property  by  descent, 
as  unlawful  abuses.  He  sometimes  gave  me  a  glimpse  of 
his  designs  in  proposing  measures  apparently  preposterous, 
by  hinting  their  tendency  to  subvert  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  society." 

His  daughter,  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  lived  in  Syria,  and 
said :  "Your  Europe  is  so  insipid  !  Leave  me  to  my  des- 
ert!  What  should  I  do  in  Europe?  See  nations  worthy  of 
their  chains,  and  kings  unworthy  to  reign  ?  Wait  a  little, 
and  your  old  continent  will  be  shaken  to  its  base.  Every 
thing  is  worn  out  in  Europe.  The  kings  do  not  make  dy- 
nasties ;  they  fall  by  their  own  fault.  An  aristocracy,  soon 
to  be  effaced  from  the  world,  is  giving  way  to  a  mean  and 
ephemeral  middle  class,  without  productivity  or  vigor.  The 
people,  the  hard-working  people  alone,  still  preserve  a  char- 
acter and  some  virtues.  Tremble  you,  if  they  become  aware 
of  their  strength •!" 

Lord  Byron  despised  his  own  class,  and  said:  "  One  of  the 
noblest  sights  of  earth  was  to  see  a  man  go  forth  in  the 
morning  to  toil  for  his  family."  In  1824,  he  went  to  fight 
for  the  Greeks,  to  deliver  them  from  the  Turks.  He  died 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  353 

in  Missolonghi.  This  line  denotes  his  humanity:  "The 
drying  up  of  a  single  tear  had  more  of  honest  fame  than 
shedding  seas  of  gore." 

Montesquieu  was  born  in  1689,  and  died  in  1753.  His 
principle  works  are  "The  Spirit  of  the  Laws,"  and  "Persian 
Letters."  These  are  some  of  his  teachings: 

"  Luxury  is  always  in  proportion  to  the  inequality  of 
fortunes. 

41  Indolence  and  inaction  is  a  consequence  of  being  de- 
prived of  our  labors. 

"Nothing  can  reconcile  those  who  have  nothing  to  those 
who  are  in  affluence. 

"  Commerce  was  only  the  profession  of  mean  persons, 
that  of  knaves.  It  is  only  making  those  who  do  it  dis- 
honest.— Aristotle. 

"So  great  is  our  luxury  that  people  adorn  with  embroid- 
ery the  shoes  of  boys  and  girls.  The  employing  of  so  many 
persons  in  making  clothes  for  one  person  is  the  way  to  pre- 
vent others  from  getting  clothes.  There  are  ten  men  who 
eat  the  fruits  of  the  earth  to  one  employed  in  the  means  of 
agriculture,  and  is  the  means  of  preventing  others  from  get- 
ting nourishment." — Kiavanti 

Voltaire  died  in  1778,  after  writing  seventy  books.  From 
a  dialogue  between  a  man  worth  forty  crowns  and  another 
worth  five  thousand,  is  this  language  : 

"Whence  comes  this  dearth  of  laborers? 

"Because  every  person  who  has  the  least  inclination  to 
industry,  becomes  an  embroiderer,  watchmaker,  silk  weav- 
er, lawyer,  divine,  beggar,  or  a  monk.  Every  one  as  much 
as  possible  has  avoided  the  laborious  employment  of  hus- 
bandman, for  which  we  were  created  by  God. 

"Our  new  wants  are  a  cause  of  our  poverty.  What  a 
cursed  thing  is  this  tax,  which  has  reduced  me  to  beg  alms ! 


354  THE  LABORER; 

There  are  three  or  four  hundred  taxes,  whose  names  it  is 
impossible  to  remember.  Was  there  ever  a  legislature,  upon 
founding  a  State,  that  thought  of  creating  the  counselors  of 
the  king,  coal  measurers,  gaugers  of  casks,  assizers  of  wood, 
overseers  of  salt,  butter,  etc. — of  maintaining  an  army  of 
scoundrels  twice  as  large  as  that  which  Alexander  com- 
manded by  sixty  generals,  who  laid  the  country  under  con- 
tribution ?  Such  a  legislation  takes  away  from  me  one-half 
of  my  property.  Upon  a  nice  calculation,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  establishment  takes  away  three-fourths  by  detail." 

St.  Simon  was  a  French  nobleman,  and  was  at  the  siege 
of  Yorktown.  He  was  born  in  1760,  and  died  in  1825. 
He  laid  down  this  principle:  "That  society  is  composed  of 
idlers  and  laborers,  and  that  a  policy  should  be  aimed  at  for 
the  moral,  physical,  and  intellectual  amelioration  of  the  la- 
borers, and  a  gradual  extinction  of  the  idlers.  The  means  of 
accomplishing  this  was  the  abolition  of  the  privileges  of 
birth,  and  the  classification  of  laborers." 

Louis  Blanc  obtained  an  office  under  the  French  Gov- 
ernment. At  a  party  of  the  aristocracy  he  was  introduced 
to  a  lady.  She  stood  on  her  tiptoes,  and  looked  over  him,  ex- 
claiming, "I  can  not  see  him."  He  was  so  offended  that 
he  threw  up  his  office,  and  commenced  to  write  on  the 
"Organization  of  Labor."  Louis  Philippe  has  often  been 
heard  to  say,  that  it  acted  like  a  battering  ram  to  royalty. 

His  plan  was  for  the  government  u  To  erect  social  work- 
shops to  employ  the  idle  men,  and  to  loan  them  money." 
Tailors  were  set  to  work  on  clothing  for  the  Garde  Mobile. 
The  King  of  France  had  to  run  away  in  1848.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Louis  Blanc,  whose  plans  led  to  idleness  and 
extravagance,  and  he,  too,  had  to  leave.  A  civil  war  was 
producd  in  which  two  officers,  and  ten  thousand  soldiers 
were  killed.  Both  rulers  found  refuge  in  England. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  355 

Lamartine  says:  "Political  economy  ought  not  to  be,  as 
formerly,  the  science  of  wealth.  The  democratic  republic 
ought,  and  will  give  it  another  character.  It  will  make  it 
a  science  by  the  results  of  which  not  only  will  labor  and 
its  fruits  be  increased,  but  by  which  a  more  general,  equi- 
table, and  universal  distribution  will  be  accomplished.  An- 
cient science  tended  only  to  render  individuals  wealthy,  but 
our  new  science  will  apply  itself  to  make  the  entire  people 
rich." 

Raymond,  a  writer  on  political  economy,  in  1823,  says: 
"How  many  people  do  we  see  in  each  community  who,  in- 
stead of  supporting  themselves  by  their  own  industry,  con- 
trive to  supply  themselves  with  the  necessaries  and  com- 
forts of  life  from  the  industry  of  others !  Some  do  this  by 
fraud  and  overreaching,  by  direct  violence,  by  the  exercise 
of  their  wits,  by  the  permission  of  the  law,  or  in  violation 
of  it.  What  a  host  there  would  be,  if  all  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  who  live  by  the  labor  of  others,  were  col- 
lected together! 

"The  history  of  mankind,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  shows 
that  some  will  never  labor  for  subsistence  if  they  can  ob- 
tain it  by  plunder — that  they  will  never  labor  for  them- 
selves as  long  as  they  can  compel  others  to  do  it  for  them.*' 

Robert  Southey,  the  English  poet,  when  a  boy  could  say : 
"When  I  look  at  the  mansions  of  the  great,  with  all  their 
splendor  and  magnificence ;  when  I  look  at  the  cottage  of 
the  husbandman,  and  see  him  dividing  his  scanty  morsel 
among  his  infants,  I  blush  and  shudder  at  the  patience  of 
humanity."  His  uncle  said  to  him:  "Robert,  if  you  write 
democratic  eclogues  you  will  be  poor;  choose  the  Church 
and  State,  and  you  will  be  rich."  Poverty  compelled  him 
to  do  this.  His  plan  was  to  settle  on  the  Ohio.  The  per- 
son who  was  to  advance  the  money  died,  which  compelled 


356  THE  LABORER; 

him  to  be  a  pen  drudge.  His  best  poem  is  "Joan  of  Arc." 
In  it  is  described  the  ravages  of  war,  and  its  desolating  influ- 
ences on  the  country,  its  besieged  cities,  famines,  ruined 
homes,  and  impoverished  people.  In  one  of  his  rural  poems 
is  described  the  plow-boy,  his  visit  to  the  fair,  and  how  the 
recruiting  sergeant  saw  him  and  gave  him  punch.  He  por- 
trayed to  him  the  glory  of  war — "  flags  flying,  drums  beat- 
ing, cannons  roaring,  and  the  French  retreating."  The  boy 
lists  and  "sets  off  for  fame,"  then  he  is  drilled,  marched, 
and  countermarched.  After  enduring  hunger  and  misery, 
he  returns  home,  and  is  robbed  of  his  money.  He  com- 
mits a  crime,  and  ends  his  days  in  a  penal  colony.  The 
sufferings  of  England's  toiling  classes  are  told  in  mournful 
poems  by  Southey. 

"It  was  Shelley's  creed,  that  human  nature  is  capable  of 
being  made  perfect;  that  kings  and  priests  have  hindered 
that  glorious  consummation  for  the  attainment  of  their  own 
selfish  purposes ;  that  religion  is  hostile  to  the  develop- 
ment of  feelings  of  charity  and  fraternity;  and  that  if  the 
inherent  goodness  of  the  human  heart  was  free  to  work  out 
its  mission,  the  Golden  Age  would  be  realized.  There  is  no 
doubt  Shelley  believed  his  principles  to  be  correct,  and  his 
views  attainable.  His  untiring  benevolence  in  visiting  the 
cottages  of  the  poor  during  his  residence  at  Marlow,  stamps 
with  sincerity  and  disinterestedness  his  eloquent  pleading 
for  humanity. 

" '  Queen  Mab,'  the  most  generally  known  of  Shelley's 
works,  is  a  poem  abounding  in  fine  passages.  He  supposes 
the  soul  of  a  female  character,  called  lanthe,  to  leave  the 
body  during  sleep,  and  to  ascend,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
fairy  Mab,  to  the  latter's  cloud-roofed  palace,  from  whence 
she  contemplates  the  earth,  and  surveys  the  ruins  of  Jeru- 
salem, Palmyra,  Athens,  and  Rome.  Then  she  beholds  a 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  357 

battle-field,  a  town  destroyed  in  the  conflict  and  the  death- 
bed of  a  tyrant.  The  poet  descants  upon  the  horrors  of 
war,  the  vices  engendered  by  competitive  commerce,  and  all 
the  social  errors  and  evils  of  the  present  life.  The  spirit 
describes  the  auto-de-fe  of  an  atheist.  Mab,  after  defending 
materialism,  summons  the  wandering  Jew,  who  relates  the 
crimes,  abuses,  and  consequent  misery,  which  are  alleged 
to  have  resulted  from  Christianity.  Having  thus  passed  in 
review  the  past  and  present,  the  fairy  queen  favors  lanthe 
with  a  glimpse  of  the  future,  when  all  the  moral  and  mate- 
rial beauty  of  the  Golden  Age,  and  all  the  prophetic  antici- 
pations of  the  millennium  are  realized  and  fulfilled.  The 
earth,  in  the  language  of  St.  Simon,  is  re-habilitated,  and  no 
longer  produces  rank  weeds  and  poisonous  fungi,  but  every- 
where flowers  and  fruits.  Fens  and  marshes,  which  had 
exhaled  malaria,  are  covered  with  waving  grain  ;  the  whirl- 
wind and  the  storm  are  known  no  more;  the  burning  des- 
erts of  Arabiavare  rendered  cultivatable  ;  the  polar  ice  is  dis- 
solved ;  and  the  wild  denizens  of  the  forest  have  forgotten 
their  thirst  for  blood — the  lion  sports  with  the  kid.  The  na- 
ture of  man  has  experienced  a  change  corresponding  with 
this  beautiful  picture  of  the  external  universe.  War,  slavery, 
commerce,  and  all  the  evils  of  the  present  society  are  no 
longer  known  ;  his  passions  are  tempered  and  harmonized  ; 
temperance  has  banished  disease  from  his  frame,  and  pro- 
longed his  life,  and  his  existence  has  become  a  long  mid- 
summer's day — a  dream  of  Arcadia  or  Paradise  realized. 

"4The  revolt  of  Islam'  is  of  a  different  cast.  The  poet 
arises  from  slumber  visited  by  unquiet  dreams,  and  meets  on 
the  sea-shore  a  beautiful  female  form,  by  whom  the  story 
is  related.  She  is  beloved  by  a  spirit,  who  conducts  her  to 
the  glorious  senate  of  the  departed  friends  of  the  human 
race,  where  she  meets  Laon,  a  patriot  of  Argolis,  who  re- 

23 


358  THE  LABORER; 

lates  the  story  of  the  revolt  of  his  countryman  against  the 
tyrant  of  Islam.  This  poem  is  far  superior  to  Queen  Mab, 
and  is  replete  with  passages  of  extreme  beauty.  The  hymn 
in  the  fifth  canto  of  the  nations  who  have  liberated  them- 
selves by  revolt,  is  a  complete  exposition  of  Shelley's  views 
and  opinions.  It  declares  fear  to  be  the  cause  of  man's 
misery  and  degradation,  proclaims  the  moral  beauty  of 
equality,  and  announces  the  advent  of  peace,  love,  freedom, 
and  universal  brotherhood. 

" l  Prometheus  Unbound,'  is  as  metaphysical  and  mystical 
as  are  most  of  Shelley's  poems.  The  atheistic  tenets  of 
the  poet  are  boldly  proclaimed.  The  idea  of  the  perfecti- 
bility of  human  nature  is  here  reproduced.  The  overthrow 
of  Jupiter,  and  the  unbinding  of  Prometheus  harbinger  the 
restoration  of  the  Golden  Age.  These  three  poems  pre- 
sent us  with  a  complete  view  of  Shelley's  social  philosophy, 
and  the  whole  tenor  of  his  life." — Chambers'*  Works. 

Extract  from  Shelley's  Queen  Mab. 

" Those  gilded  flies", 


That,  basking  in  the  sunshine  of  a  court, 
Fatten  on  its  corruption  !     What  are  they  ? 
The  drones  of  the  community  :  they  feed 
On  the  mechanic's  labor.     The  starved  hind 
For  them  compels  the  stubborn  glebe  to  yield 
Its  unshared  harvests  j   and  yon  squalid  form, 
Leaner  than  fleshless  misery,  that  wastes 
A  sunless  life  in  the  unwholesome  mine, 
Drags  out  in  labor  a  protracted  death, 
To  glut  their  grandeur ;   many  faint  with  toil, 
That  few  may  know  the  cares  and  woe  of  sloth." 

Hugh  Miller's  "School  and  Schoolmasters  "  teaches  us  to 
escape  poverty  by  workihg  directly  on  the  soil,  which  will 
give  us  plenty  of  food,  fleeces,  and  candles.  He  says:  "I 
found  myself  standing  before  a  life  of  labor  and  restraint, 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  359 

The  prospect  appeared  dreary  in  the  extreme — the  necessity 
of  toiling  from  morning  to  night,  and  all  for  a  little  coarse 
food  and  homely  raiment ;  and  I  fain  would  have  avoided 
it.  *  *  *  In  less  than  a  fortnight  I  succeeded  in  obtaining 
a  very  considerable  mastery  over  the  mallet.  I  astonished 
Uncle  David  [his  teacher  in  stone-cutting]  by  setting  myself 
to  compete  with  him,  and  by  hewing  nearly  two  feet  of 
pavement  to  his  one.  *  *  *  We  found  twenty-four  work- 
men in  a  corn-kiln,  open  at  the  gable  ends,  and  a  row  of 
beds  on  the  sides.  Over  each  bed  hung  a  sack  of  oatmeal, 
which  was  their  summer's  food,  without  milk  or  meat. 

"The  oatmeal  was  boiled  in  water,  and  made  into  cakes, 
which  were  baked  before  the  fire.  '  The  uncle  grumbled 
because  the  meal  went  so  fast ;  he  laid  it  down  as  a  law  that 
only  two  cakes  a  week  should  be  eaten.  I  mixed  up  a  peck 
of  meal.  During  the  baking  the  uncle  came  in,  and  ex- 
claimed, 'What's  this,  laddie,  are  ye  baking  for  a  wadding?' 
*  Just  baking  one  of  the  two  cakes,  master,'  was  the  answer. 
This  raised  a  laugh,  and  cured  uncle  of  two  cakes  a  week. 
There  was  a  diversity  of  opinion  how  much  salt  should  be 
put  in  the  porridge,  and  how  long  it  should  boil.  A  cook 
contrived,  in  the  same  pot,  to  make  half  of  the  porridge 
without  salt,  the  other  half  very  salt.  When  the  two  men 
sat  down  to  eat,  one  exclaimed,  c  He  has  given  me  por- 
ridge without  salt.'  The  other  exclaimed,  'He  has  given  me 
porridge  as  salt  as  brine.' 

"Candle-light  indulgences  could  not  be  afforded.  To 
pass  fifteen  hours  in  darkness  was  no  easy  task.  Exploits 
were  told.  A  stone-cutter,  on  his  night  journey  home,  fell 
into  a  grave.  On  getting  out,  he  was  pursued  by  some  body- 
stealers,  who  wanted  him  for  a  4  subject.'  Another  time 
he  was  attacked  by  robbers,  from  whom  he  escaped,  and  was 
lost  in  a  mist.  To  keep  warm  he  went  among  some  sheep." 


360  THE  LABORER; 

Mr.  Miller  tells  us  he  "had  all  his  fingers  oozing  blood 
at  once;  and  labor  was  torture  handling  dirty  stanes.  My 
poor  master  suffered  more  than  I  did.  The  wall  went  up 
painfully  with  his  chopped  and  bleeding  hands,  which  made 
him  fretful." 

Mr  Miller  became  editor  of  a  paper,  and  his  best  essays 
are  made  into  a  book  of  500  pages,  called  "Literary  and  Po- 
litical Essays,"  in  which  he  describes  a  farm  laborer's  cot- 
tage as  no  better  than  a  shed — no  window  frames,  the  roof 
lets  in  the  rain,  which  makes  the  floor  quite  soft,  and  keeps 
the  beds  damp.  It  does  no  good  to  keep  fire,  as  this  abode 
is  so  open.  It  is  owned  by  the  land-owner  for  a  yearly  ten- 
ant, and  contains  a  father  and  mother,  four  daughters,  and 
two  sons.  These  have  only  one  room. 

Mr.  Miller  worked  on  "  hanging  stone-steps  with  torus 
ami  mouldings  formed  on  them,"  and  also  on  stone  columns. 
It  seems  not  to  have  ever  occurred  to  him,  that  were  men 
to  work  less  on  stone-carving,  and  more  on  homes  for  those 
who  support  men  by  useful  toil,  human  happiness  would  be 
promoted.  He  chose  rather  to  flatter  the  vulgar  rich.  In 
his  essays,  he  speaks  well  of  Wellington,  and  gives  us  an 
amusing  account  of  a  Burns'  festival  in  a  shower  of  rain. 
He  heaped  ridicule  on  the  Chartists,  whose  plans  were  well 
meant,  and  were  trials  to  mitigate  human  misery.  He  seems 
to  have  no  remedy  for  the  social  ills  of  life. 

This  author  writes  beautifully  on  "Ptericthys,  Anadontas, 
and  Unionidtz"  This  kind  of  knowledge  would  be  well  if  no 
misery  were  to  be  found.  If  this  writer  had  told  the  gentle- 
men to  do  something  useful,  as  a  means  of  lessening  the  bur- 
dens of  the  poor,  he  would  have  been  of  more  utility  to  men. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

SOCIAL    AND    MORAL    INNOVATORS. 

THE  OPINIONS  OF  VOLNEY — FRANKLIN — FXNELON — CAREY — FOURIER — HAR- 
RIET MARTINEAU — JOSEPH  KAY — DR.  PRICE — JAQJJES  TURGOT — FORTES- 
QJUE — WILLIAM  GODWIN — JOHN  WESLEY — WILLIAM  WICKLJFFE. 

'*  Let  tyrants  know  there  exists  a  place  on  the  earth,  where  oppressed  men 
may  escape  from  their  chains'" — ABBE  RAYNAL'S  address  to  Americans. 

JOUNT  VOLNEY,  in  his  "Ruins  of  Empires," 
says :  "  I  perceived  in  the  extremity  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, in  one  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  a  pro- 
digious movement,  such  as  when  a  violent  sedition  arises 
in  a  vast  city — a  numberless  people  rushing  in  all  directions 
to  the  public  places.  My  ear,  struck  with  the  cries  that 
resounded  to  the  heavens,  distinguished  these  words :  'What 
is  this  new  prodigy  ?  What  cruel  and  mysterious  scourge 
is  this  ?  We  are  a  numerous  people,  and  we  want  hands  ! 
We  have  an  excellent  soil,  and  we  are  in  want  of  subsist- 
ence !  We  are  active  and  laborious,  and  we  live  in  indi- 
gence !  We  pay  enormous  tributes,  and  we  are  told  they 
are  not  sufficient !  We  are  at  peace  without,  and  our  prop- 
erty and  persons  are  not  safe  within  !  What  is  the  secret 
enemy  that  devours  us?' 

"  Some  voices,  from  the  midst  of  the  multitude,  replied: 
4  Raise  a  discriminating  standard,  and  let  all  those  who  main- 
tain and  nourish  mankind  by  useful  labors  gather  around 
it,  and  you  will  discover  the  enemy  that  preys  upon  you.' 


362  THE  LABORER; 

"The  standard  being  raised,  the  nation  divided  itself  into 
two  unequal  bodies,  of  a  contrasted  appearance — one  with 
sunburnt  faces,  the  marks  of  misery  and  labor;  the  other, 
a  little  group,  an  imperceptible  fraction,  in  rich  attire  covered 
with  gold  and  silver, .and  in  sleek  and  ruddy  faces,  present- 
ing the  signs  of  leisure  and  abundance. 

"Considering  these  men  more  attentively,  I  found  that 
the  great  body  was  composed  of  farmers,  artificers,  mer- 
chants, and  all  the  professions  useful  to  society.  The  little 
group  was  made  up  of  the  ministers  of  worship  of  every  or- 
der, financiers,  nobles,  men  in  livery,  commanders  of  troops, 
and  other  hireling  agents  of  governments. 

"These  two  bodies  being  assembled  face  to  face,  they 
regarded  each  other  with  astonishment.  I  saw  indignation 
and  rage  arising  on  one  side,  and  a  sort  of  a  panic  on  the 
other.  The  larger  body  said  to  the  smaller  one : 

ct '  Why  are  you  separated  from  us ;  are  you  not  of  our 
number?'  'No,'  replied  the  smaller  group,  'you  are  the 
people;  we  are  the  privileged  class,  who  have  our  laws, 
customs,  and  rights  peculiar  to  ourselves.' 

"People. — 'And  what  labor  do  you  perform  in  society  ? ' 
"Privileged  Class. — "-None;  we  were  not  made  to  work.' 
"People. — 'How,  then,  have  you  acquired  these  riches  ? ' 
"Privileged  Class. — 'By  taking  pains  to  govern  you.' 
"People. — 'What !  we  toil  and  you  enjoy  !  we  produce  and 
you  dissipate  !      Wealth  proceeds  from  us,  you  absorb  it  ; 
you  call  this  governing  !     Privileged  class,  a  distinct  body 
not  belonging  to  us  !     Form  your  nation  apart,  and  we  shall 
see  how  you  will  subsist ! ' 

"Then  the  smaller  group  deliberated  on  this  state  of 
things.  Some  just  and  generous  men  said:  'We  must  join 
the  people,  and  bear  a  part  of  their  burdens,  for  they  are  like 
ourselves,  and  our  riches  come  from  them.'  Others,  arro- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  363 

gantly,  exclaimed:  'It  would  be  a  shame,  an  infamy  for  us 
to  mingle  with  the  crowd;  they  are  born  to  serve  us.  Are 
we  not  the  noble  and  pure  descendants  of  the  conquerors  of 
this  empire?  This  multitude  must  be  reminded  of  our  own 
rights  and  of  their  origin.' 

"  The  Nobles. — *  People  !  know  you  not  that  our  ances- 
tors conquered  this  land,  and  your  race  was  only  spared  on 
condition  of  serving  us?  This  is  our  social  compact,  the 
government  is  constituted  by  custom,  and  prescribed  by 
time!' 

"People. — '  O  conquerors,  pure  of  blood,  show  us  your 
genealogies !  we  shall  then  see  if  the  robbery  and  plunder 
that  is  in  an  individual,  can  be  virtuous  in  a  nation/ 

"And  forthwith  voices  were  heard  in  every  quarter,  call- 
ing out  the  nobles  by  their  names ;  and  they  related  their 
origin,  parentage,  how  their  great-grandfather,  grandfather, 
or  even  father,  were  born  traders  and  mechanics.  After 
acquiring  wealth  in  every  way,  they  then  purchased  their 
nobility  with  money,  so  that  very  few  families  were  of  the 
original  stock.  Said  these  voices:  'See  those  purse-proud 
commoners,  who  deny  their  parents!  See  those  plebeian  re- 
cruits who  look  on  themselves  as  illustrious  veterans!' 

41  To  stifle  them,  audacious  men  cried  out:  'Mild  and 
faithful  people  acknowledge  the  legitimate  authority,  the 
king's  will.  The  law  ordains.' 

"People. — '  Privileged  classes,  explain  the  word  legitimate! 
if  it  means  conforming  to  the  law,  say  who  made  the  law  ? 
Can  the  law  ordain  any  thing  else  than  our  preservation?' 

"Then  the  military  governor  said  :  'The  multitude  will 
only  submit  to  force.  We  must  chastise  them.  Soldiers, 
strike  this  rebellious  people!' 

"People. — 'Soldiers  !  you  are  of  pur  blood,  will  you  strike 
your  brothers,  your  relations?  If  the  people  perish,  who 


364  THE  LABORER; 

will  nourish  the  army?'     And  the  soldiers  grounded  their 

arms,  and  said  :   'We  are  likewise  the  people,  show  us  the 

enemy  ! ' 

Then  the  ecclesiastical  governors  said  :  'There  is  but  one 

resource  left,  the  people  are  superstitious;  we  must  frighten 

them  with  the  names  of  God  and  religion.' 

'"Our  dear  brethren!   our  children!   God  has  ordained 

us  to  govern  you!' 

"People. — 'Show  us  your  power  from  God!' 

"Priests. — '•You  must  have  faith  ;  reason  leads  astray.' 

"People. — 'Do  you  govern  without  reason?' 

"Priests. — 'God  commands  peace.     Religion  prescribes 

obedience.' 

"People. — 'Peace  supposes  justice.     Obedience  implies 

conviction  of  duty.' 

"Priests. — '  Suffering  is  the  business  of  this  world.' 
"People. — 'Show  us  an  example.' 
"Priests. — 'Would  you  live  without  gods  and  kings?' 
"People. — 'We  would  live  without  oppressors.' 
'•'•Priests. — 'You  must  have  mediators,  intercessors.' 
"People. — '  Mediators    with    God,  kings,  courtiers,  and 

priests!     Your  services  are  too  expensive,  we  will  manage 

our  own  affairs.' 

"  Then  the  little  group  said  :  'All  is  lost — the  multitude 

are  enlightened.' 

"  The  people  answered  :  'All  is  safe.     Since  we  are  en- 
lightened, we  will  commit  no  violence;  we  only  claim  our 

rights.     We  feel  resentments,  but  we  must  forget  them. 

We  were  slaves,  we  must  command,  we  only  wish  to  be 

free,  and  liberty  is  but  justice.' " 

Volney,  a  French  nobleman,  was    born  in   1753,  and 

died  in  1797.     He  maintained  that  the  force  of  the  State 

was  in  proportion  to  those  who  tilled  the  soil  and  owned  it. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  365 

Dr.  Franklin  wrote  this  on  a  margin  of  one  of  Jefferson's 
pamplets:  "Happiness  is  more  generally  diffused  among  sav- 
ages than  in  civilized  societies.  No  European,  who  has  once 
tasted  savage  life,  can  ever  afterward  bear  to  live  in  our  so- 
cieties. The  care  of  providing  for  artifical  wants — the  sight 
of  so  many  rich  wallowing  in  superfluous  plenty,  whereby 
many  are  kept  poor  and  distressed  by  want — the  insolence 
of  office — the  snares  and  plague  of  law,  and  the  restraints  of 
custom,  all  contribute  to  disgust  them  with  what  we  call 
civilized  society." 

Archbishop  Fenelon,  a  Catholic  divine,  offended  the  king 
of  France  by  his  u  Telemachus,"  which  reproved  him  for 
his  misrule.  The  morals  in  this  book  are  sublime.  Its  po- 
litical maxims  are  for  the  happiness  of  mankind.  This  good 
man  died  in  1715.  These  are  extracts  from  his  book: 

"If  he  is  qualified  to  govern  in  peace,  it  must  follow  that 
he  should  be  governed  by  the  wisest  laws.  He  must  restrain 
pride  and  luxury,  and  suppress  all  arts  which  can  only  grati- 
fy vice.  He  must  only  encourage  those  which  supply  the 
necessaries  of  life,  especially  agriculture,  to  which  the  prin- 
cipal attention  of  the  people  should  be  turned. 

"Whatever  is  necessary  will  become  abundant.  The 
people  being  inured  to  labor,  simple  in  their  manners,  ha- 
bituated to  live  upon  a  little,  and  therefore  easily  gaining  a 
subsistence  from  the  fields,  will  multiply  without  end.  The 
people  will  be  healthy  and  vigorous,  not  effeminated  by  lux- 
ury, veterans  in  virtue,  not  slavishly  attached  to  a  life  of  vo- 
luptuous idleness. 

"When  they  [savages]  were  told  of  nations  who  have  the 
art  of  erecting  superb  buildings,  and  making  splendid  furni- 
ture of  silver  and  gold,  stuffs  adorned  with  embroidery  and 
jewels,  exquisite  perfumes,  costly  meats,  and  instruments  of 
music,  they  replied  that  the  people  of  such  nations  are  ex- 
32 


366  THE  LABORER; 

tremely  unhappy  in  employing  so  much  labor  and  ingenuity 
to  render  themselves  at  once  corrupt  and  wretched.  Su- 
perfluities effeminate,  intoxicate,  and  torment  those  who  pos- 
sess them.  They  tempt  those  who  do  not  possess  them  to 
acquire  them  by  fraud  and  violence.  Can  that  superfluity 
be  good  which  tends  only  to  make  men  evil  ?  Are  people 
of  these  countries  more  healthy  or  more  robust  than  we  are? 
Do  they  live  longer,  agree  better  with  each  other.  Are 
not  their  hearts  corroded  with  envy,  and  agitated  with  am- 
bition and  terror  ?  Are  they  not  incapable  of  pleasures  that 
are  pure  and  simple?  And  is  not  this  incapacity  the  una- 
voidable consequence  of  the  innumerable  artificial  wants  to 
which  they  are  enslaved,  and  upon  which  they  make  all 
their  happiness  depend. 

"These  were  the  sentiments  of  a  people  who  acquired 
wisdom  by  the  study  of  nature.  They  considered  refine- 
ments with  abhorrence,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that,  in  their 
simplicity,  they  were  great.  They  lived  in  common,  having 
no  partnership  in  the  land.  The  head  of  every  family  is  a 
king/' 

Helvetius,  in  his  "Essay  on  Man,"  says:  UA  small  for- 
tune will  suffice  a  busy  man.  The  largest  will  not  supply 
him  that  has  no  employ.  A  hundred  villages  must  be  laid 
in  waste  to  amuse  an  idle  wretch.  The  greatest  princes 
have  not  sufficient  riches  to  supply  the  avidity  of  a  woman, 
an  idle  courtier,  or  a  prelate.  It  is  not  the  poor,  but  the  idle 
rich  that  feel  the  want  of  immense  riches,  for  which  nations 
are  loaded  with  taxes  and  ruined.  How  many  citizens  are 
deprived  of  necessaries,  merely  to  support  the  expense  of  a 
few  discontented  mortals!  When  riches  have  stupefied  the 
faculty  in  man,  he  gives  himself  up  to  idleness.  He  feels 
at  once  a  pain  in  serving  himself.  If  a  man  were  truly  noble 
and  honest  he  would  spend  his  time  in  tears." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  367 

Douglas  Jerrold,  in  his  "St.  Giles  and  St.  James,"  con- 
trasts the  condition  of  the  rich  and  poor.  "In  the  streets 
of  London  an  infant  is  found  on  a  door  step.  The  by-stand- 
ers  exclaim  l  God  help  it,'  and  with  this  easy  adjuration  we 
consign  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  human  beings 
to  want  and  ignorance;  doom,  when  yet  sleeping  the  sleep 
of  guiltlessness,  to  future  devils — their  own  misguided  pas- 
sions. We  make  them  outcasts,  wretches,  and  punish  them 
in  their  wickedness  for  our  own  selfishness  and  neglect. 

"The  child  is  before  us.  May  we  not  see  about  it,  con- 
tending for  it,  the  principles  of  good  and  evil  ?  a  contest 
between  the  angels  and  the  fiends  ?  Come  hither,  states- 
men ;  you  who  live  within  a  party  circle  ;  you,  who  fight 
some  miserable  fight;  continually  strive  in  some  selfish 
struggle  for  power  and  place,  considering  men  only  as  tools 9 
the  merest  instruments  of  your  aggrandizement;  come  here, 
in  the  wintry  street,  and  look  upon  God's  image  in  its  baby- 
hood! Consider  this  little  man.  Are  not  creatures  such 
as  these  the  noblest,  grandest  things  of  earth?  Have  they 
not  solemn  natures — are  they  not  subtly  touched  for  the 
highest  purposes  of  human  life?  Come  they  not  into  this 
world  to  grace  and  dignify  it?  There  is  no  spot,  no  coarser 
stuff  in  the  pauper  flesh  before  you,  that  indicates  a  lower 
nature.  There  is  no  felon  mark  upon  it — no  natural  forma- 
tion indicating  the  thief  in  its  baby  fingers — no  inevitable 
blasphemy  upon  its  lips.  It  lies  before  you  a  fair  and  un- 
sullied thing,  fresh  from  the  hand  of  God.  Will  you,  with- 
out an  effort,  let  the  great  fiend  stamp  his  fiery  brand  upon 
it  ?  Shall  it,  even  in  its  sleeping  innocence,  be  made  a 
trading  thing  by  misery  and  vice?  a  creature  borne  from 
street  to  street,  a  piece  of  living  merchandise  for  mingling 
beggary  and  crime?  Say;  what,  with  its  awakening  soul, 
shall  it  learn  ?  What  lessons  whereby  to  pass  through  life, 


368  THE  LABORER; 

making  an  item  in  the  social  sum  ?  Why,  cunning  will  be 
wisdom  ;  hypocrisy  its  truth  ;  theft  its  natural  law  of  self- 
preservation.  To  this  child,  so  nurtured,  so  taught,  your 
whole  code  of  morals,  nay,  your  brief  right  and  wrong,  are 
writ  in  stranger  figures  than  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  and — 
time  passes — and  you  scourge  the  creature  never  taught, 
for  the  heinous  guilt  of  knowing  nought  but  ill !  The  good 
has  been  a  sealed  book  to  him,  and  the  dunce  is  punished 
with  the  jail." 

Rev.  Sidney  Smith,  in  1820,  said  :  "In  what  four  quarters 
of  the  globe,  who  reads  an  American  book?'*  H.  C.  Carey, 
of  Philadelphia,  has  written  3,000  pages  on  political  econo- 
my. His  books,  for  truth  and  clearness,  exceed  all  that  has 
been  written  on  this  subject.  His  books  are,  an  "  Essay  on 
Wages,"  "Past,  Present,  and  Future,"  in  two  volumes,  and 
"  Social  Science,"  in  three  volumes.  He  teaches  earnestly 
that  the  farmer  and  mechanic  should  be  together,  so  as  to 
save  the  middleman.  In  his  "Social  Science"  is  this  lan- 
guage: "Why  does  misery  and  crime  exist?  Why,  when 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  earth  is  yet  unoccupied  ?  Human 
beings  are  suffering  for  food,  and  crowded  together  in  un- 
wholesome dens,  to  the  sacrifice  of  comfort,  decency,  and 
health.  Why  does  one  nation  export  food,  of  which  its 
own  members  are  in  need,  while  another  nation  sends  its 
manufactures  throughout  the  world,  although  hundreds  of 
thousands  at  home  are  scarcely  clothed  ?  In  short,  what  is 
the  cause  of  the  measureless  woe  that  exists  on  the  earth  ? 
*  *  *  *  *  Seeing  the  great  disparity  there  is  between  the 
different  conditions  of  human  life,  we  ought  to  raise  each 
lower  class  to  a  class  above  it.  This  is  the  true  equaliza- 
tion of  mankind — not  to  pull  down  those  who  are  exalted 
and  reduce  all  to  a  naked  equality,  but  to  raise  those  who 
are  abased,  to  communicate  to  every  man  genuine  pleasures, 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  369 

to  elevate  every  man  to  all  true  wisdom,  and  to  make  men 
participators  of  a  comprehensive  benevolence.  This  is  the 
path  which  the  reformers  of  mankind  ought  to  travel.  This 
is  the  path  they  should  pursue.  Do  you  tell  me  that  soci- 
ety can  never  arrive  at  this  improvement?  I  tell  you  we 
can  come  nearer  and  nearer  yet." 

Charles  Fourier  was  born  in  1772,  and  died  in  183—. 
He  was,  at  five  years  of  age,  punished  for  telling  the  truth  in 
his  father's  shop,  which  he  never  forgot.  It  led  to  this  truth, 
that  agricultural  association  and  wholesale  dealings  were 
the  only  means  of  neutralizing  fraud  and  falsehood  in  com- 
mercial dealings.  His  father  left  him  $20,000,  which  he  in- 
vested in  rice,  sugar,  tea  and  coffee.  This  was  taken  from 
him  for  the  use  of  the  hospital  troops  of  the  Convention. 
A  vessel  laden  with  goods,  belonging  to  him,  was  wrecked, 
which  made  him  poor.  Being  fond  of  fruit,  he  was  obliged 
to  pay  sevenpence  for  an  apple  in  a  town,  which  were  sold 
for  three  farthings  a  dozen  in  the  country.  These  and  some 
other  causes  led  him  to  frame  his  system  of  "  phalanstery, 
social  husbandry,  and  attractive  industry."  He  waited  for 
a  large  capitalist  to  carry  out  his  plans  ;  none  offered  him- 
self to  put  them  in  practice. 

His  ideas  were  based  on  reasoning  like  this:  A  piece  of 
ground  takes  one  person  twenty-four  hours  to  dig  it.  If 
twelve  men  are  put  at  it  they  will  be  "-joyous  and  happy, 
and  do  it  in  an  hour  and  a  half."  Groups  were  to  take  care 
of  the  poultry,  others  to  work  in  the  kitchen,  workshops, 
and  gardens,  "under  movable  canvas  canopies."  All  these 
groups  have  made  free  choice  of  the  functions  they  are  en- 
gaged at.  If  a  shower  of  rain  came  up,  those  who  worked 
in  the  house  were  to  go  to  the  fields  with  carriages  after  the 
distant  laborers. 

Says  the  translator  of  Fourier's  book:  "Large  cities  engulf 


370  THE  LABORER; 

vast  masses  of  men  in  a  kind  of  a  living  death,  and  doom 
them  to  wear  away  their  lives  in  a  wilderness  of  brick  and 
mortar,  amid  the  tumult  and  traffic  of  crowded  streets,  while 
all  nature  is  robing  herself  in  magnificence,  as  it  were,  to 
regale  the  senses  of  her  lord,  and  raising  her  glad  anthems 
to  Him  who  arrays  the  earth  in  loveliness.  The  artisan  is 
a  stranger  to  scenes  like  these.  The  trees  may  be  clothed 
in  beauty  unknown  to  him,  the  groves  may  be  resonant  with 
music  that  sounds  unheeded  by  ears  attuned  only  to  the  dis- 
cord of  creaking  machinery. 

"I  do  not  call  mere  wages  an  index  to  the  happiness  of 
man.  He  may  vote  for  a  representative  unbiased  by  threats, 
and  yet  be  a  slave  in  soul,  ground  to  the  dust.  If  he  suc- 
ceeds in  getting  a  little  capital,  it  is  at  the  expense  of  worn 
limbs  and  an  aching  brow.  Something  must  be  wrong  in 
our  political  schemes,  to  reduce  men  so  low  in  the  scale  of 
happiness.  Man  was  undoubtedly  placed  on  the  earth  to  cul- 
tivate and  embellish  it.  He  is  invited,  by  its  infinite  variety, 
to  satisfy  his  ever-multiplying  wants,  and  encircle  himself 
with  its  choicest  beauties  and  costliest  varieties.  The 
earth,  with  all  its  boundless  riches,  is  a  waste,  a  wilderness, 
an  unreclaimed  desert. 

"  Labor  is  the  lot  of  man.  Without  toil  he  could  not  sup- 
port his  body.  That  vast  multitudes  of  men  should  be 
doomed  to  the  soul-deadening  drudgery  of  beasts  of  burden, 
is  a  libel  on  humanity.  No  agrarian  scheme  of  division  and 
anarchy  is  proposed  to  rob  the  rich  and  aggrandize  the 
poor.  The  system  now  introduced  seeks  to  show  how 
multitudes  may  be  released  from  heart-wearing  toil,  and  the 
rich  from  corrupting  and  corroding  idleness.  The  poverty- 
stricken  may  be  raised  to  opulence,  while  the  rich  may  be 
surrounded  with  additional  magnificence." 

Harriet  Martineau  has  shown  what  a  woman  can  do,  in 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  371 

grappling  with  this  difficult  subject,  which  few  men  under- 
stand, nor  do  two  men  understand  it  alike.  This  lady  treats 
political  science  in  the  same  way  as  Ricardo  and  others. 
She  believed  that  there  should  be  distinct  classes  to  receive 
rents  and  create  capital.  Her  books  are  called  "Illustra- 
tions of  Political  Economy,"  in  which  are  interwoven  the 
incidents  of  domestic  life,  with  its  cares  and  struggles,  its 
hopes  and  fears.  She  has  given  to  this  dry,  tedious  science 
the  novelty  of  fiction  and  the  pleasures  of  romance.  Her 
"Tales  and  Sketches"  show  that  women  can  think  as  well 
as  men.  Her  "  Manchester  Strike"  describes  the  distress 
of  families,  and  how  the  factory  children  enjoyed  their  long 
holiday  at  first  to  be  succeeded  by  pinching  want.  She  very 
clearly  points  out  that  employers  lose  the  rents  of  their  shop, 
and  how  their  capital  yields  no  profits  ;  or,  if  the  capital  was 
partially  borrowed,  how  the  interest  diminished  the  fund  of 
the  employer.  This  book  shows  how  the  work  they  might 
have  done  was  made  in  other  countries,*  and  how  other  peo- 
ple became  skilled  at  the  same  work,  and  their  competitors. 
When  the  workmen  are  ready  to  go  to  work,  after  losing 
their  wages,  the  employer  can  not  give  work  to  as  many 
as  he  did,  his  capital,  stock,  and  machinery  have  wasted. 

Her  books  teach  that  laborers  receive  wages,  capitalists 
profits,  and  land  owners  rents.  What  mankind  want  is  a 
plan  whereby  they  can  all  alike  receive  wages,  profits,  and 
rents.  For  useless  labor  this  talented  woman  had  no  con- 
demnation. These  two  examples,  or  others  like  them, 
should  afford  satire  for  the  pens  of  philosophers.  The  pal- 

*  There  was  a  strike  among  Paris  hatters.  English  workmen  gave  to  them 
money  for  their  support.  During  this  strike  English  hatters  were  supplying 
Paris  with  hats.  If  a  hatter  strikes  and  makes  a  $2.00  hat  worth  $2,25  j 
if  the  shoemaker  strikes,  and  make  shoes  at  $2,00,  worth  $2,25  a  pair,what 
will  the  hatter  gain  ?  Nothing.  When  one  class  strikes  all  should  strike. 


372  THE  LABORER; 

ace  of  Versailles  was  repaired  at  a  cost  of  $200,000,000,  for 
the  accommodation  of  100,000  philosophers,  pensioners,  no- 
bility, and  statesmen,  who  were  to  surround  the  king.  A 
single  monument  cost  $10,000,000.  The  utility  of  these 
may  be  shown  by  the  conversation  of  two  weavers  in  the 
streets  of  Hull.  One  said  to  the  other:  "There  is  Wil- 
berforce's  monument,  it  has  given  work  to  a  great  many 
mechanics."  Said  the  other:  "If  the  labor  on  it  were  in 
implements  of  industry,  or  on  cottages  for  the  poor,  the  la- 
bor would  be  of  some  utility,  and  promote  the  happiness  of 
the  human  race." 

Wayland  has  given  to  us  "The  Elements  of  Political 
Economy"  in  three  divisions — on  " Production,"  "Distribu- 
tion," and  "Consumption,"  which,when  analyzed,  say  to  la- 
borers :  You  are  an  inferior  class  ;  it  i-s  your  duty  to  produce 
and  distribute,  to  be  consumed  by  a  superior  class,  clothing, 
food, and  other  things.  This  is  from  his  book:  "Consump- 
tion is  the  destruction  of  values.  By  this  is  not  meant 
the  annihilation  of  the  material^  but  only  of  a  particular  form 
of  utility.  Thus,  if  gunpowder  be  burned,  if  bread  be  eaten, 
if  a  tree  be  felled,  the  particular  utility  each  originally  pos- 
sessed is  destroyed  forever.  And  the  destruction  of  value 
takes  place  altogether  independently  of  the  result  which 
may  in  different  cases  ensue,  because  that  destruction  is  as 
truly  effected  in  one  case  as  in  another.  A  load  of  wood 
that  has  been  burned,  as  truly  loses  its  utility — its  power  of 
creating  heat — when  it  is  destroyed  by  a  conflagration  as 
when  it  is  consumed  under  a  steam-boiler,  or  in  a  fireplace, 
though  the  result  in  the  two  cases  may  be  very  dissimilar. 
If  bread  be  thrown  into  the  sea,  its  utility  is  destroyed  just 
as  much  as  if  it  were  eaten ;  though,  in  the  one  case,  there 
is  no  result  from  the  consumption,  in  the  other,  it  is  the 
means  of  creating  the  vigor  necessary  for  labor." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  373 

It  is  self-evident,  that  if  a  person  spends  his  day-time  in 
learning  this,  he  will  be  poor  or  make  some  one  else  poor. 
It  will  bring  about  the  result  mentioned  by  Say — the  laborer 
will  get  none  of  the  comforts  of  life.  Thousands  have 
been  taught  out  of  these  books,  yet  they  can  not  prevent 
the  increase  of  want  and  crime. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Blake,  author  of  "Political  Economy  for 
the  use  of  American  Schools,"  u  thinks  it  very  improper  to 
teach  the  poor  the  nature  of  political  economy.  *  *  *  The 
rich  and  the  poor  are  necessary  to  each  other ;  because, 
without  the  rich,  the  poor  would  starve,  and  without  the 
poor  the  rich  would  have  to  work.  *  *  *  If,  besides  fur- 
nishing subsistence  for  himself,  the  wages  of  the  laborer  do 
not  enable  him  to  maintain  a  wife  and  bring  up  a  family, 
the  laborers  will  gradually  diminish,  and  the  scarcity  of  la- 
borers will  raise  their  own  wages,  which  will  enable  them 
to  live  with  more  comfort  and  rear  a  family;  but,  as  the 
capitalist  will  always  keep  wages  as  low  as  he  can,  the  la- 
borer and  his  family  can  seldom  command  more  than  the 
necessaries  of  life." 

Bulwer,  in  his  writings,  seems  to  plead  for  the  poor  crim- 
inals, and  to  blame  society  for  their  many  crimes.  In  his 
"  Eugene  Aram,"  he  puts  this  complaint  in  the  mouth  of 
one  of  them:  "Why  is  this?  The  world  is  my  treasury; 
I  live  upon  my  kind ;  society  is  my  foe ;  laws  order  me 
to  starve:  but  self-preservation  is  an  instinct  more  sacred 
than  society,  more  imperious  than  laws." 

Bulwer  seems  to  look  upon  the  governing  powers  as  no 
better  than  thieves.  His  "  Paul  Clifford,"  the  tenth  chapter 
reads  as  follows  :  "'Listen  to  me,  Paul,'  answered  Augus- 
tus ;  'all  crime  and  excellence  depend  upon  a  choice  of 
words.  I  see  you  look  puzzled.  I  will  explain.  If  you 
take  money  from  the  public  and  say  you  have  been  robbed, 
33 


374  THE  LABORER; 

you  have  undoubtedly  committed  a  great  crime  ;  but  if  you 
say  you  have  been  relieving  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  you  have 
done  an  excellent  action.  If,  afterward  when  dividing  this 
money  with  your  companions,  you  say  you  have  been  shar- 
ing booty,  you  have  committed  an  offense  against  the  laws 
of  your  country.  But  if  you  observe  that  you  have  been 
sharing  with  your  friends  the  gains  of  your  industry,  you  have 
performed  one  of  the  noblest  actions  of  humanity.  To 
knock  a  man  on  the  head  is  neither  virtuous  nor  guilty,  but 
it  depends  upon  the  language  applied  to  the  action  to  make 
it  murder  or  glory.  Why  not  say,  then,  that  you  have  shown 
the  courage  of  a  hero,  rather  than  the  atrocity  of  a  ruffian  ? 
This  is  perfectly  clear,  is  it  not  ? ' 

'"It  seems  so,'  answered  Paul. 

"'It  is  so  self-evident,  it  is  the  way  all  governments  are 
carried  on.  If  you  want  to  rectify  an  abuse  those  in  power 
call  you  disaffected.  Oppression  is  law  and  order*  Extor- 
tion is  a  religious  establishment;  and  the  taxes  are  the  blessed 
constitution.  Therefore,  my  good  Paul,  we  only  do  what 
all  other  legislators  do.  We  are  never  rogues  so  long  as 
we  call  ourselves  honest  fellows,  and  we  never  commit  a 
crime  so  long  as  we  can  call  it  a  virtue!  What  say  you 
now?' 

"'My  dear  Tomlinson,  there  is  very  little  doubt  but  that 
you  are  wrong;  yet  if  you  are,  so  are  all  the  rest  of  the 
world.  It  is  to  no  use  to  be  the  only  white  sheep  in  the 
flock.  Wherefore,  I  will  in  future  be  an  excellent  citizen, 
by  relieving  the  necessities  of  the  poor,  and  sharing  the  gains 
of  my  industry  with  my  friends.' " 

This  same  author,  in  this  book,  says:  "The  learned  pro- 
fessions are  masks  to  your  pauper  rogues ;  they  give  respec- 
tability to  cheating,  and  a  diploma  to  feed  on  others." 

Joseph  Kay,  in  his  "Social  Condition  of  England,"  tells 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  375 

us  of  scenes  that  no  benevolent  mind  can  bear  to  read  of,  a 
father  and  mother  and  six  children  in  one  bed.  In  a  room 
in  Church  Lane  were  found  two  widows  with  four  children, 
three  single  women  and  one  man,  two  husbands  and  their 
wives.  These  were  respectable  people.  Houses  are  so  of- 
fensive that  persons  can  not  visit  them  with  medicines  or 
consolation.  There  are  scenes  so  depraved  that  they  can 
not  occur  in  savage  life.'* 

Chateaubriand,  in  his  "American  Travels,"  says:  "The 
mercantile  spirit  is  beginning  to  carry  them  away  ;  interest 
is  fast  becoming  with  them  a  great  national  vice.  A  gold- 
bearing  aristocracy  is  ready  to  spring  up,  with  a  love  of  dis- 
tinctions and  a  passion  for  titles.  People  imagine  there  is  a 
universal  level  in  the  United  States ;  it  is  a  complete  error. 
There  are  circles  that  disdain  each  other,  and  between  them 
there  is  not  any  connection.  The  enormous  inequality  of 
fortune  threatens  still  more  seriously  to  destroy  the  spirit  of 
equality.  A  cold  and  hard  selfishness  reigns  in  the  large 
towns." 

Fortesque,  Lord  High  Chancellor  under  Henry  VI,  says: 
"  Every  inhabitant  is  at  liberty  to  fully  use  and  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  products  of  the  farm,  and  the  increase 
of  his  flocks.  All  the  improvement  he  makes  by  his  own 
personal  industry,  or  of  those  he  retains  in  his  service,  are  his 
own,  to  use  and  enjoy,  without  the  let,  interruption,  or  de- 
nial of  any  man.  If  he  be  injured,  he  shall  have  satisfac- 
tion against  the  party  offending.  Hence  it  is  that  the  in- 
habitants are  rich  in  silver  and  gold,  and  in  all  the  necessa- 
ries of  life.  They  drink  no  water  unless  at  certain  times, 
by  the  way  of  doing  penance ;  they  are  fed  in  great  abun- 
dance with  all  sorts  of  flesh  and  fish ;  they  are  clothed  in 
good  woolens;  their  bedding  is  of  wool,  and  that  in  great 
store  j  they  are  all  well  provided  with  household  goods  and 


376  THE  LABORER; 

implements  for  husbandry.      Every  one,  according  to  his 
rank,  has  all  things  to  make  life  easy  and  happy." 

"Evidence  before  the, House  of  Commons,  in  1824,  stated 
that  the  laboring  classes  of  Suffolk  were  robbers  too  deeply 
corrupted  to  be  ever  reclaimed.  The  sheriff  of  Wiltshire 
stated  the  food  of  the  field  laborers  to  be  potatoes.  The 
judges  of  the  King's  Court  declared  the  general  food  of  the 
laborers  to  be  bread  and  water,  and  that  some  had  eaten 
horse-flesh  and  brewer's  grains. 

"A  law  recently  published  tells  the  world  that  this  nation, 
once  the  greatest  and  the  most  moral  in  the  world,  is  now 
a  nation  of  incorrigible  thieves,  the  most  impoverished,  fall- 
en, and  degraded  that  ever  saw  the  sunlight." — Cobbett. 

Such  a  condition  of  life  is  caused  by  selling  the  food  of 
laborers  abroad  for  useless  things.  It  is  converting  men, 
who  should  be  farmers,  into  sailors,  custom-house  officers, 
life-insurers,  and  other  pursuits  that  cause  the  misery  of  the 
nation. 

Burke,  in  his  writings,  said  :  "Religion  is  for  the  man  in 
humble  life,  to  raise  his  nature,  and  to  put  him  in  mind  of 
a  state  in  which  the  privileges  of  opulence  will  cease^  where 
he  will  be  equal  by  nature  and  more  than  equal  by  virtue." 

Reasoning  like  this  will  not  make  the  toiling  man  con- 
tented, when  earth  has  such  an  abundance.  Burns  has  said  : 

"If  I'm  designed  yon  lordling's  slave, — 

By  nature's  law  designed, 
Why  was  ever  an  independent  wish 

E'er  implanted  in  my  mind  ? 
If  not,  why  am  I  subject  to 

His  cruelty  or  scorn  ? 
Or  why  has  man  the  will,  the  power, 

To  make  his  fellow  mourn  ? 

See  yonder  poor  o'erlabor'd  wight,  Who  begs  a  brother  of  the  earth 

So  abject,  mean,  and  vile,  To  give  him  leave  to  toil." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  377 

Dr.  Charming  says:  <lThe  fruits  of  modern  civilization 
are,  a  contempt  for  other's  rights,  fraud,  oppression,  a  gam- 
bling disposition  in  trade,  reckless  adventure,  and  commercial 
revulsions  tending  to  impoverish  the  laborer,  and  to  render 
insecure  every  condition  of  life.  Relief  is  to  come  from  the 
new  application  of  Christian  principles,  and  of  universal 
justice  to  men." 

M.  Sismondi  says:  "  There  is  spoliation.  The  rich  man 
robs  the  poor,  when  he  draws  from  his  fertile  and  easily 
cultivated  soil  his  opulence.  Whilst  he  who  has  raised 
this  income,  who  with  his  sweat  has  bathed  every  produc- 
tion, dies  with  hunger." 

"The  great  living  mass,  who  are  the  creators  of  wealth, 
are  trampled  down  with  as  much  indifference  as  if  they 
were  weeds." — London  Times,  December  8^,  1844. 

John  Ball,  a  priest,  in  1378,  went  up  and  down  England, 
inculcating  on  the  minds  of  the  common  people  that  man- 
kind were  all  derived  from  one  common  stock;  and  he  ex- 
plained to  them  that  it  was  to  support  a  few  in  riotous  lux- 
ury, in  extravagance  and  debauchery,  that  many  were  re- 
duced to  starvation.  He  tried  in  vain  to  find  out  the  right 
a  few  had  to  bind  the  mass  of  their  fellow-beings  to  their 
will,  because  they  happened  to  be  born  in  a  palace.  He 
also  informed  them  all  had  an  equal  right  to  liberty  and  the 
goods  of  nature,  from  which  they  had  been  deprived  by  the 
ambition  of  the  insolent  few.  Three  years  after  this  the 
Wat  Tyler  rebellion  broke  out,  caused  by  these  circum- 
stances: The  French  wars  of  Edward  III  caused  much  ex- 
pense, to  meet  which  a  tax  was  put  on  every  person  fifteen 
years  of  age  and  upward.  A  collector  of  this  tax  went  to 
the  house  of  Tyler,  and  demanded  the  tax  for  the  mother 
and  her  daughter.  A  dispute  arose  with  the  mother  about 
the  age  of  her  child.  The  ruffian  resorted  to  his  usual  bru- 


378  THE  LABORER; 

tal  method  of  deciding  the  difficulty.  The  indignation  of 
the  mother  and  the  terror  of  the  daughter  caused  such  an 
outcry  that  a  multitude  was  quickly  assembled,  which  hast- 
ened the  father,  who  came  with  his  blacksmith  hammer,  and 
laid  the  agent  of  oppression  dead  at  his  feet  with  a  single 
blow.  Tyler  soon  had  100,000  armed  men.  The  king  fled 
to  the  Tower  for  safety.  Tyler  demanded  an  audience.  He 
told  the  king  his  people  were  perishing  on  account  of  taxa- 
tion, and  his  father  did  not  treat  them  so.  The  young  king 
said:  "He  did  not  know  the  people  suffered."  The  atten- 
dants gathered  around  to  hear  Tyler  tell  his  story,  which 
caused  him  unthinkingly  to  lay  his  hand  on  his  sword.  This 
offended  Wm.  Walworth,  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  and  he 
struck  him  with  his  spear.  Another  thrust  him  in  the  side. 
The  arrows  of  the  angry  insurgents  were  about  to  be  sent 
among  the  royal  retainers.  The  king,  with  great  presence 
of  mind,  threw  himself  among  them,  and  said :  tl  I  grant  all 
your  demands  ;  follow  me,  I  will  be  your  leader."  The 
concessions  made  were  afterward  revoked,  and  the  leaders 
were  executed.  This  rebellion  loosened  the  chains  of  the 
people  and  taught  kings  a  lesson. 

The  demands  were — -first)  freedom  from  the  condition  of 
serfs  ;  second,  the  reduction  of  the  lands  to  a  moderate  price  ; 
thir^  that  they  be  charged  with  no  more  taxes  than  their 
forefathers  paid  ;  fourth,  the  right  to  sell  in  all  the  fairs  in  the 
kingdom;  fifth)  a  field  rent  instead  of  villanage  services; 
sixth,  the  right  to  hunt  and  fish. 

.Wm.  Godwin,  a  philosophical  recluse,  during  the  storm 
of  the  French  Revolution,  sent  forth  out  of  his  retreat 
arousing  thoughts  and  burning  words,  that  gave  vigor  and 
life  to  the  heaving  mass  of  minds  around  him.  In  his 
"  Political  Justice"  is  this :  "  Kings  are  the  most  unfortunate 
and  the  most  misled  of  all  human  beings.  Royalty  allies 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  379 

itself  to  vice.  Kings  debauched  from  their  birth,  and 
ruined  by  their  situation,  can  not  endure  intercourse  with 
virtue.  Monarchy  is  so  unnatural  an  institution,  that  man- 
kind have,  at  all  times,  strongly  suspected  it  was  unfriendly 
to  their  happiness.  The  man  who,  with  difficulty,  earns  his 
scanty  subsistence,  can  not  behold  the  ostentatious  splendor 
of  a  king  without  being  visited  by  some  sense  of  injustice. 
He  inevitably  questions,  in  his  mind,  the  utility  of  an  officer 
whose  services  are  hired  at  so  enormous  a  price. 

"•  These  reflections  are  so  unavoidable,  that  kings  them- 
selves have  often  been  aware  of  the  danger  of  their  imagi- 
nary happiness.  They  have  sometimes  been  alarmed  at  the 
progress  of  thinking,  and  have  often  regarded  the  prosperity 
of  their  subjects  as  a  source  of  terror  and  apprehension. 
Hence,  the  well  known  maxims  of  monarchical  govern- 
ments, that  it  is  necessary  to  keep  the  people  in  a  state  of 
poverty  and  endurance,  in  order  to  render  them  submissive, 
and  ease  is  the  parent  of  rebellion.  Hence,  this  lesson  is  per- 
petually read  to  monarchs :  '  Render  your  subjects  prosper- 
ous, and  they  will  speedily  refuse  to  labor;  they  will  be- 
come stubborn,  proud,  unsubmissive  to  the  yoke,  and  ripe 
for  revolt.  It  is  impotence  and  penury  alone  that  will  ren- 
der them  supple,  and  prevent  them  from  rebelling  against 
the  dictates  of  authority.' — Fenelon's  Te/emachus. 

"A  second  source  of  destructive  passions,  by  which  the 
peace  of  society  is  interrupted,  is  to  be  found  in  the  luxury, 
pageantry,  and  magnificence  with  which  enormous  wealth 
is  usually  accompanied.  Human  beings  are  capable  of  en- 
countering, with  cheerfulness,  hardships  when  they  are  im- 
partially shared  by  the  rest  of  society  The  rich  are,  in  all 
such  countries  directly  or  indirectly  the  legislators  of  a  State; 
and  are  perpetually  reducing  oppression  into  a  system.  Leg- 
islation, in  almost  every  country,  is  in  favor  of  the  rich." 


380  THE  LABORER; 

Let  no  one  think  that  if  we  mitigate  human  misery  the 
earth  will  be  too  populous.  It  has  been  computed  that  the 
20,000,000  of  acres  in  Ireland,  will  support  100,000,000 
of  persons  in  potatoes.  Sharon  Turner  tells  us  that  the 
rice  that  can  be  grown  in  China  will  maintain  900,000,000 
of  people.  Let  no  one  harden  their  hearts  with  Malthu- 
sian  doctrines,  or  think  the  earth  will  be  too  populous,  and 
look  on  little  children  with  pain,  and  imagine  they  will  in- 
crease faster  than  food.  Hugh  Miller  tells  us  that  pam- 
pered animals  do  not  increase  as  fast  as  those  in  an  opposite 
condition.  If  universal  luxury  should  prevail,  it  will  no 
doubt  put  a  "check  on  population." 

Wm.  Godwin  has  given  us  an  "Essay  on  Population,"  in 
which  he  asserts  that  three-fourths  of  the  earth  is  a  wilder- 
ness. This  book  was  to  show  how  absurd  were  the  teach- 
ings of  Malthus.  Godwin,  by  these  quotations,  taken  from 
Montesquieu's  "Persian  Letters,"  proves  that  our  world  is 
not  as  populous  as  it  was: 

"Italy,  though  its  present  population  is  confined  to  the 
towns,  is  a  mere  vacancy  and  a  desert.  It  seems  they  ex- 
ist for  no  other  purpose  than  to  mark  the  spot  where  those 
magnificent  cites  stood,  with  whose  policy  and  wars  history 
is  filled. 

"Rome  contained  a  greater  population  than  any  one  of 
the  most  powerful  kingdoms  of  Europe  does  at  present. 
There  were  single  Roman  citizens,  who  possessed  20,000 
slaves  for  rustic  purposes. 

"Sicily,  in  times  of  old,  contained  within  its  shores  pow- 
erful kingdoms  and  flourishing  states,  which  have  entirely 
disappeared. 

"Greece  is  so  wholly  deserted  as  not  to  contain  the  one- 
hundreth  part  of  the  number  of  its  former  inhabitants. 

"Spain,  formerly  so  abundant  in  men,  exhibits  nothing  at 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  381 

the  present  day,  but  a  variety  of  provinces,  almost  without 
inhabitants  ;  and  France  is  an  unpeopled  region  compared 
with  the  ancient  Gaul  that  Cassar  described  to  us. 

"The  North  of  Europe  is  in  a  manner  stripped  of  its 
people.  The  times  are  no  more  when  she  is  obliged  to 
separate  her  people  into  portions,  and  to  send  them  forth  in 
swarms  and  colonies,  to  seek  some  new  spot  where  they 
might  dwell  at  large. 

"  Poland  and  Turkey  in  Europe  are  almost  without  in- 
habitants. 

"Asia  is  not  in  a  much  better  condition.  Asia  Minor, 
which  boasted  of  so  many  powerful  monarchies,  and  so  pro- 
digious a  number  of  great  cities  in  her  limits,  with  Greater 
Asia,  or  the  part  subject  to  Turkey,  is  in  no  better  condition. 

"Persia,  if  we  compare  it  with  its  former  condition,  we 
shall  see  it  contains  but  a  very  small  residue  of  the  popu- 
lation which  anciently  furnished  the  innumerable  hosts  of 
Xerxes  and  Darien. 

"As  to  the  smaller  states,  which  were  placed  in  the  vi- 
cinity of  these  great  empires,  they  are  literally  unpeopled, 
such  as  Circassia,  Guriel,  and  Imiretta.  The  princes  over 
the  extent  of  the  country  in  which  they  now  preside  have 
scarcely  under  their  subjection  as  many  as  50,000  beings. 

"Africa  has  always  been  so  unpenetrated  that  we  can  not 
speak  of  it  with  the  same  precision  as  of  the  other  parts  of 
the  globe  ;  but,  if  we  only  turn  our  attention  to  the  coast 
of  the  Mediterranean — the  portions  which  are  known — we 
see  how  wretched  it  has  sunk  since  the  period  in  which  it 
first  formed  a  Roman  province  of  the  highest  kind.  Its 
princes  are  now  so  feeble,  that  they  are  strictly  the  smallest 
powers  in  existence. 

"  Egypt  has  not  suffered  less  than  the  countries  I  have 
mentioned. 


382  THE  LABORER; 

uln  a  word,  I  review  the  different  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  I  find  nothing  hut  destruction.  I  seem  to  see  a  race 
of  beings  who  have  escaped  from  the  ravages  of  a  univer- 
sal plague  or  a  universal  famine. 

"Upon  a  calculation,  I  am  led  to  think  that  the  earth 
does  not  contain  the  fiftieth  part  of  the  population  that  in- 
habited it  in  the  time  of  Caesar.  What  is  more  astonish- 
ing, that  its  population  grows  thinner  every  day;  and  if  it 
goes  on  at  this  rate,  in  one  thousand  years  the  human  race 
will  become  extinct. 

"  Here,  then,  my  friends,  we  are  presented  with  the  most 
fearful  catastrophe  that  imagination  can  conceive  of,  yet  it 
is  hardly  attended  too,  because  it  proceeds  by  insensible 
degrees,  and  spreads  itself  over  such  a  series  of  ages.  This 
very  thing  incontestibly  proves,  that  there  is  an  innate  vice, 
a  concealed  and  inaccessible  poison,  a  wasting  disease,  which 
clings  to  our  nature  and  can  not  be  removed." 

David  Hume  wrote  an  "Essay  on  Population,"  which 
contradicts  the  author  of  Lettres  Persanms.  The  strange 
doctrines  of  Malthus  found  an  opponent  in  Sharon  Turner, 
a  legal  gentleman,  whose  life  begun  in  1761,  and  ended  in 
1847.  By  improving  his  leisure  hours  he  has  left  a  pleas- 
ing, enlightening,  and  enduring  monument  in  his  "  History 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons"  and  "Sacred  History  of  the  World." 
Each  is  in  three  volumes.  The  last  begins  with  man  in 
his  creation,  brings  him  through  the  deluge,  and  down  the 
disturbed  stream  of  time  to  the  present  age.  Malthus,  in  the 
last  books,  gets  some  hard  blows  for  asserting  his  incongru- 
ous, contemptible  ideas  that  man's  increase  lessens  his  food. 
Turner's  books  contain  this  :  "When  the  work  is  indispen- 
sable we  can  only  take  such  laborers  as  we  can  get.  As  the 
working  population  increases,  selection  becomes  possible." 
This  applies  to  the  idle.  He  treats  on  the  "food  supplies." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  383 

Mr.  Wesley  wrote  on  almost  every  subject.  He  did  not 
write  on  political  subjects.  The  code  of  rules  he  gave  to 
his  people  will  make  any  nation  rich.  His  rules  forbid  or- 
naments on  dress,  houses,  or  equipages.  His  rules  make 
him  a  Christian  philosopher  of  the  highest  order.  No  one 
in  modern  times  has  exceeded  him  in  benefiting  mankind. 
He  said  :  "The  early  Christians  made  no  account  of  per- 
ishable goods.  They  despised  all  that  luxury  had  intro- 
duced, all  the  idle  expense  in  magnificent  buildings,  costly 
apparel,  sumptuous  furniture,  and  vessels  of  gold.  As  to 
their  dress,  they  wore  no  glaring  colors,  mostly  white,  the 
emblem  of  purity.  They  used  no  costly  stuffs,  rings,  jew- 
elry, or  perfumes ;  nothing  fine  or  delicate.  Plainness,  mod- 
esty, gravity,  and  a  contempt  for  ornament  was  visible  in 
their  whole  exterior." 

In  his  "Sermon  on  Money,"  it  is  thus  written:  "Do  not 
waste  any  part,  merely  in  gratifying  the  eye,  by  superfluous 
or  expensive  apparel,  or  by  needless  ornaments.  Waste  no 
part  of  it  in  curiously  adorning  your  houses;  in  superfluous 
ornaments  or  expensive  furniture,  costly  pictures,  gildings, 
books,  paintings;  in  elegant  rather  than  useful  gardens. 

"Who  would  expend  any  thing  in  gratifying  these  desires, 
if  he  considered  that  to  gratify  them  is  to  increase  them? 
Nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  this:  daily  experience 
shows,  the  more  they  are  indulged  they  increase  the  more. 
Whenever,  therefore,  you  expend  any  thing  to  please  your 
taste  or  other  senses,  you  pay  so  much  for  sensuality.  If 
you  lay  out  money  to  please  your  eye,  you  give  so  much  for 
an  increase  of  curiosity — for  a  stronger  attachment  to  the 
pleasures  that  perish  from  the  using.  While  you  are  pur- 
chasing any  thing  that  men  applaud,  you  are  purchasing 
more  vanity.  Had  you  not,  then,  enough  vanity,  sensuality, 
and  curiosity  before  ?  Was  there  need  of  any  such  addition? 


384  THE  LABORER; 

And  would  you  pay  for  it,  too  ?  What  manner  of  wisdom  is 
this?  Would  not  the  literally  throwing  your  money  into 
the  sea  be  a  less  mischievous  folly  ?" 

Mr  Paley,  in  his  "Evidences  of  Christianity,"  said,  you 
can  tell  Methodists  by  their  plainness,  they  resembled  the 
early  Christians.  Rev.  Mr.  Paley  would  not  say  that  now. 
If  Mr.  Wesley  could  see  now  the  costly  female  colleges  that 
are  erected,  he  could  say,  in  the  language  of  Mary  Woll- 
stonecraft:  "A  few  brilliant  minds  at  the  expense  of  all  the 
rest."  He  could  also  say:  The  costly  wood  and  stone  carv- 
ings, frescoed  ceiling,  glass  stained,  effigied,  mullioned  win- 
dows, carpeted  floors,  and  easy  sofas  that  the  pupils  enjoy, 
are  at  the  expense  of  the  comforts  of  some  one  else.  To  de- 
monstrate this  is  easy  :  The  parents  of  these  pupils  became 
Christians,  which  made  them  thoughtful  and  money  saving. 
These  savings,  instead  of  being  invested  in  lands  and  looms, 
cultivated  by  the  investor,  are  put  in  bridges,  roads,  stocks, 
corner  lots,  and  wild  lands,  the  profits  of  which  keep  them 
in  learned,  splendid  idleness. 

These  investing  Christians  are  conscious  that  their  gains 
through  the  State's  care  can  go  into  the  people's  pockets.  If 
these  pupils,  the  children  of  light  and  grace,  would  work  at 
farm  work  two  hours  a  day,  during  the  planting  and  reaping 
time,  and  two  hours  daily  in  winter  spinning  and  weaving, 
they  would  have  created  their  own  food  and  clothing,  which 
would  make  them  feel  happier  and  better,  and  relieve  others 
from  the  burden  of  keeping  them,  who  would  find  time  for 
home  learning.  Mr.  Wesley,  when  young,  made  a  vow  that 
he  never  would  be  rich.  He  said:  "If  I  am  worth  more 
than  fifty  pounds  at  my  death,  call  me  a  thief  and  a  robber." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

REASONS    FOR    REFORMS. 

DR.  PALEY  ON  SOCIETY — A  PRESIDENTIAL  CANDIDATE'S  HOME — COST  OF  IN- 
TEMPERANCE— THE  FOOL'S  PENCE — THEORY  OF  GOVERNMENTS— WHAT  WK 
PAY  FOR  BEING  GOVERNED — JOHN  ADAMS'  PLEA  FOR  THE  CONSTITUTIONS. 

"  Seize  upon  truth  wherever  found, 
On  Christian  or  on  heathen  ground; 
Among  your  friends,  among  your  foes, 
The  plant's  divine  where'er  it  grows." — COWPER. 

|R.  WILLIAM  PALEY,  D.  D.,  ARCHDEACON  OF 
CARLISLE,  in  his  "Principles  of  Moral  and  Polit- 
ical Philosophy,"  says:  "If  you  should  see  a  flock 
of  pigeons  in  a  field  of  corn,  and  if  (instead  of  each  picking 
where  and  what  it  liked,  taking  just  as  much  as  it  wanted, 
and  no  more)  you  should  see  ninety-nine  of  them  gathering 
all  they  got  into  a  heap,  reserving  nothing  for  themselves 
but  the  chaff  and  the  refuse ;  keeping  this  heap  for  one, 
and  that  the  weakest,  perhaps  worst,  pigeon  of  the  flock ; 
sitting  around,  and  looking  on  all  the  winter  whilst  this  one 
was  devouring,  throwing  about,  and  wasting  it;  and  if  a 
pigeon  more  hardy  or  hungry  than  the  rest,  touched  a  grain 
of  the  hoard,  all  the  others  instantly  flying  upon  it,  and  tear- 
ing it  to  pieces  ;  if  you  should  see  this,  you  would  see  noth- 
ing more  than  what  is  every  day  practiced  and  established 
among  men. 

"Among  men,  you  see  the  ninety  and  nine  toiling  and 


386  THE  LABORE 

scraping  together  a  heap  of  superfluities  for  one  (and  this  one, 
too,  oftentimes  the  feeblest  aud  worst  of  the  whole  set,  a 
child,  a  woman,  a  madman,  or  a  fool)  ;  getting  nothing  for 
themselves  all  the  while  but  a  little  of  the  coarsest  pro- 
vision which  their  own  industry  produces  ;  looking  quietly 
on,  while  they  see  all  the  fruits  of  their  labor  spent  or 
spoiled  ;  and  if  one  of  the  number  take  or  touch  a  particle 
of  the  hoard,  the  others  joining  against  him,  and  hanging 
him  for  the  theft." 

This  is  found  in  "Littell's  Living  Age:  "  "At  a  meeting 
of  the  King's  Council,  at  which  a  bishop  was  to  have  been 
appointed,  a  member  proposed  Dr.  Paley.  At  the  mention 
of  his  name,  the  king  cried  out :  'What !  what !  what !  Pig- 
eon Paley! — make  Pigeon  Paley  a  bishop?  No,  no,  no; 
never!'" 

In  society  we  often  see  men,  who  toil  hard  all  day  for 
others,  and  scarcely  get  a  sufficiency  of  good  food,  or  a  de- 
cent suit  of  Sunday  clothing  in  which  to  go  to  church  and 
learn  the  moral  duties  of  life.*  The  reason  why  this  is  so, 
men  work  at  unprofitable  employments.  To  illustrate  this, 
if  you  visit  a  cabinet  wareroom  in  the  principal  street  of 
this  city  [Cincinnati],  you  will  see  book-cases  worth  $2,000, 
bedsteads  worth  $1,000,  and  chairs  $100  each.  It  will  ex- 
cite wonder  at  the  delicate  carving,  fine  polished  woods,  in- 
laid with  silver,  satin  and  ebony  wood  from  Brazil,  mother 

*  "Brethren,  you  have  in  your  city  as  much  misery  as  there  is  anywhere.  I 
have  seen  more  than  one  family  in  a  room.  I  am  often  called  to  bury  their 
dead.  I  invite  these  poor  to  church.  Then  I  call  and  inquire,  if  they  had 
been  to  church.  The  reply  was  :  'We  looked  in  and  saw  the  merchants  and 
bankers,  and  could  not  overcome  the  difficulties.'  I  said  they  are  a  good  sort 
of  people,  and  want  to  do  you  good." — A  part  of  a  sermon  preached  in  Wes- 
Uy  Chapel,  Cincinnati,  Nov.  3Oth,  1868.  By  the  Rev.  Charles  Ferguson. 
Plainness  of  dress,  as  recommended  by  Mr.  Wesley,  cures  these  "difficulties'* 
and  invites  people  to  church. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  387 

of  pearl,  ivory,  and  tortoise  shell,  forming  beautiful  mosaic, 
a  landscape,  or  a  bird  of  brilliant  plumage.  Often  a  bed- 
stead has  on  it  a  carved  hunting  scene.  The  head-board  is  a 
Carved  mass  of  festoons  and  foliage,  surrounding  a  bird's  nest 
with  the  bird  on  the  edge  of  it  cut  in  high  relief.  We  of- 
ten see  a  marble-topped  table,  with  its  whimsical-carved 
frame,  covered  with  gold.  If  laboring  men  turn  reformers 
they  are  often  taunted  with  being  idle,  drunken,  worthless 
vagabonds,  and  if  they  had  any  energy  they  would  rise  above 
their  condition.  Those  making  this  assertion  are  well  off, 
and  generally  think  others  can  become  so.  The  money  that 
pays  for  this  finery  is  often  ill-gotten,  and  those  from  whom 
k  is  taken  should  be  making  comforts  for  themselves.  It  is 
impossible,  from  the  nature  of  things,  that  the  maker  of  these 
articles  should  be  in  any  other  condition  than  that  of  pov- 
erty, because  some  people  use  a  thousand  times  more  labor 
than  others  do. 

A  Candidate 's  Home.— "The  mansion  is  a  most  magnificent 
one,  with  a  finish  such  as  is  seldom  seen  this  side  of  the 
water.  At  every  turn,  evidences  of  European  travel  meet 
the  eye,  while  the  floors  of  the  principal  apartments  are  laid 
in  marble  mosaic  of  elaborate  patterns.  Attached  to  the 
main  building  is  an  elegant  floral  conservatory,  in  the  style 
of  a  grotto,  filled  with  all  the  choicest  exotics,  peeping  out 
from  every  little  cave,  in  every  variety  and  color.  At  a 
little  distance  from  this  there  is  a  succession  of  hot-houses, 
in  which  I  noticed,  growing  most  luxuriantly,  bananas  and 
pine-apples,  and  other  tropical  fruits.  The  grounds,  which 
are  seventy-three  acres  in  extent,  are  most  charmingly  di- 
versified, and  in  all  the  highest  state  of  ornamental  cultiva- 
tion. The  views  from  the  front  and  rear  verandas  of  the 
main  building  are  wonderfully  grand  and  beautiful."51 

*  Cincinnati  Commercial,  July  15,  1868. 


388  THE  LABORER; 

In  addition  to  this  he  has  no  doubt  velvet  carpets,  and  his 
seats  are  covered  with  soft  shaggy  plush,  or  satin  damask. 
Laborers,  sitting  on  them  not  knowing  their  softness,  would 
be  frightened  at  the  sinking  sensation.  A  truthful  epitaph. 

To  keep  from 

falling  into  oblivion  the  name  of 

GEO.    II    PENDLEDON, 

simple-minded  and  homeless  men  dug,  polished, 

carved,  lettered,  and  sculptured  this  marble. 
Ci  He  rose  in  the  morning  and  went  to  bed  at  night," 

for years. 

He  could  say  with  Watts,  u  There  are  a  number  of  us  born 

Merely  to  eat  up  the  corn." 
His  plans  to  pay  a  nation's  debt  was  an  inundation  of 

paper  money. 

He  was  an  imitator  of  Charles  XII,  of  Sweden, 
who  paid  his  debts  with  copper  that  was  by  his  decree 

made  to  be  of  the  same  value  as  silver. 

He  had  no  plans  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 

impoverished,  suffering  men. 

His  "Escort,"  numbering,  perhaps,  200  men,  left  this  city, 
and  went  to  the  city  of  New  York,  to  name  this  man  to  be 
the  chief  ruler.  They  took  with  them  fifteen  barrels  of 
beer,  and  five  of  whisky.*  Said  a  paper  of  that  city,  "Their 

*I  asked  a  printer,  an  eye-witness  to  this  carousal,  if  these  things  were  so. 
He  said :  The  amount  of  liquor  was,  perhaps,  twice  as  much.  At  their  quar- 
ters in  the  city,  these  "  commissary  stores  "  were  put  in  a  corner  and  given  away. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  389 

• 

procession  had  a  woe-stricken  and  dilapidated  look."  What 
pain  this  scene  must  have  given  the  moral  Democrats,  to  see 
their  delegates  under  the  power  of  bad  drink,  while  naming 
a  chief  ruler !  The  result  of  such  conduct  is,  that  very  bad 
men  get  promoted.  What  a  reproach  it  is  that  New  York 
City,  filled  with  book  and  Bible  printing-houses,  the  source 
of  those  noble  charities  that  are  felt  over  this  land  and  the 
earth,  should  elect  a  John  Morrissey,  a  pugilist,  to  Congress, 
to  make  rules  for  the  moral  part  of  community,  who  has  the 
ability  more  than  others,  to  knock  a  person  down. 

This  Pendeldon  who  lives  so  finely  in  his  sister's  home,  has 
splendid  wealth,  a  father's  patrimony.  His  biographer  tells 
us  he  has  traveled  among  the  ruins  of  Thebes,  and  gazed 
upon  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt.  The  money  taken  from  the 
dwellers  on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  was  given  to  the  Arabs 
on  the  Nile.  In  his  life,  sent  out  to  prove  that  he  was  a  prop- 
er person  to  be  the  "  standard  bearer  of  Democracy,'*  noth- 
ing is  said  of  his  visiting  the  afflicted,  and  helping  to  dry  up 
their  tears;  nor  is  any  thing  said  about  founding  asylums 
for  the  unfortunate. 

The  food  of  this  man  is  the  finest  and  the  best.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  some  part  of  it  is  coated  with  white  sugar, 
and  covered  with  sugar  angels,  cupids,  birds,  and  flowers, 
at  a  great  cost.  It  is  self-evident  that  this  costly  food,  dur- 
ing its  preparation  took  much  labor  which  should  be  bet- 
ter employed.  The  luxury  of  this  man  is  misery  to  some 
one  else.  Says  one,  Does  not  this  give  employment  ?  It 
does  ;  it  is  unnecessary  employment.  The  wages  that  are 
paid  should  be  employed  in  creating  comforts  for  those  who 
bought  his  lots  and  farms,  to  get  which  they  suffered  pain. 

We  can  very  justly  question  the  fitness  of  such  a  man 
to  be  above  the  humble  ones,  to  make  rules  for  them,  or  to 
rule  them.     In  the  first  place,  he  has  no  sympathy  for  them, 
34 


390  THE  LABORER; 

no  feelings  in  unison  with  theirs,  nor  been  a  partaker  of 
their  sufferings.  He  has  never  been  rudely  repulsed  when 
he  asked  for  work,  or  reproached  for  not  doing  it  well,  or 
having  the  quantity  deficient.  He  has  never  experienced  the 
painful  feelings  of  begging  for  work,  or  those  when  dis- 
charged. This  man  receives  prompt  obedience  from  sub- 
missive servants,  pleasing  adulation  from  compliant  mer- 
chants, and  good  wishes  from  kind  friends,  who  enjoy  his 
grapes  and  pine-apples,  his  conversation,  books,  gardens, 
conservatories,  elegant  pictures,  luxurious  seats,  and  abun- 
dant dinners.  A  man  thus  surrounded  with  all  that  heart 
can  wish  or  desire,  and  continually  greeted  with  the  smiles 
of  friends,  his  wishes  gratified,  and  plans  carried  out,  will  in- 
sensibly lead  him  into  the  opinion  that  he  is  a  superior  per- 
son, which  will  be  increased  by  seeing  his  well  fed,  com- 
fortably clad  appearance  of  his  servants.  He  will  give  his 
money  to  mechanics  for  his  grottoes  and  other  fancies, 
which  will  procure  for  him  the  title  of  benefactor  from  flat- 
tering friends,  who  ignore  the  fact  that  these  benefits  are 
from  his  tenants  that  eat  butterless  bread,  from  interest-pay- 
ing men  whose  houses  are  unadorned. 

This  man's  person  in  his  baby-hood  and  boy-hood,  was 
covered  with  fine  linen,  and  costly  velvets.  The  world 
to  him  was  full  of  playthings  to  destroy.  He  could  roll  on 
the  grass  in  ecstacy,  gather  flowers,  or  chase  butterflies. 
His  youthful  back  never  ached  with  gathering  potatoes;  his 
little  fingers  never  were  numbed  with  cold,  gathering  apples; 
he  never  shivered  in  the  cold,  feeding  cattle,  or  groaned  at 
chopping  wood.  Servants  did  his  bidding,  which  taught 
him  to  command.  To  improve  his  faculty  of  observation, 
to  give  his  education  a  finish,  to  give  him  a  lofty  mien 
among  men,  parental  fondness  sent  him  on  a  tour  of  for- 
eign travel. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  391 

A  person  thus  nurtured  and  trained  becomes  effeminate, 
indolent,  luxurious,  and  selfish.  This  class,  not  knowing 
how  to  labor,  when  they  are  made  statesmen  will  make  the 
laws  so  that  they  need  not  work.  That  legislators  get  bribes 
is  well  known.  Lobbyists  have  received  $20,000  for  get- 
ting bills  through  legislatures.  If  a  man  applies  for  a  bank 
charter,  or  a  life  and  fire  insurance  permit,  he  gets  a  mine 
of  wealth.  The  member  who  gets  these  granted  by  the 
legislature  receives  a  reward  of  him  who  is  the  recipient  of 
these  privileges.  Hence  it  is  often  said  that  legislators  make 
fortunes. 

The  Romans  erected  a  temple  of  honor,  and  those  who 
trod  its  courts  were  pure  and  unsullied.  If  this  luxurious 
man,  whom  we  have  described,  should  present  himself  at  the 
door  of  the  temple,  this  conversation  might  ensue  with  the 
door-keeper : 

"Upon  what  do  you  base  your  right  to  tread  these  courts?" 

"I  have  got  the  learning  of  the  colleges." 

"How  do  you  spend  your  time?" 

"After  I  rise  in  the  morning  I  go  into  the  grottoes  and  in- 
hale the  perfume  of  the  flowers.  I  also  go  into  the  grap- 
ery and  eat  grapes." 

"Do  you  not  know  that  the  laborer  goes  forth  to  till  the 
soil ;  he  returns  in  the  evening  with  aching  bones,  and  without 
his  labor  you  will  soon  perish  ?  Why  do  you  not  assist  him  ? " 

"My  education  forbids  it." 

"The  laborers  strangely  believe  that  legislatures  can  shor- 
ten the  hours  of  labor ;  your  reason  teaches  you  that  if  you 
assist  them  it  will  shorten  their  laboring  hours." 

"I  do  head  work." 

"Your  head  work  makes  some  people  slaves  ;  do  you  not 
see  some  part  of  the  female  community  poor  and  thinly  clad, 
whilst  another  part  are  richly  and  gorgeously  clothed,  the 


392  THE  LABORER; 

fashion  of  which  is  often  grotesque,  wavy,  inordinate  in 
quantity  and  length,  dragging  over  the  walks,  gathering  up 
brush,  cabbage  leaves,  cigar  stumps,  etc  ?  Have  you  ever 
expostulated  with  the  vain  female,  who  shows  her  want  of 
humanity  and  sense,  by  covering  her  person  with  spangles, 
ribbons,  tags,  and  feathers,  and  shown  how  absurd  it  was  to 
follow  the  frivolous  fashions  when  so  many  can  be  made 
happy  by  the  excess  of  labor  they  demand  and  consume  ?  "* 

"  No'." 

"  Then  the  gates  of  the  temple  of  honor  are  closed  against 
you.  Its  courts  are  easy  of  access.  Have  only  a  few  hab- 
its, and  supply  them  with  the  labor  of  your  own  hands.  In 
this  temple  is  the  door  of  the  temple  of  fame,  and  in  it  are 
some  vacant  niches  ;  you  can  get  one  if  you  will  vindicate 
the  laborer's  cause.  How  painful  is  the  thought  that  he  who 
performs  the  hardest  toil  gets  the  poorest  pay  !  It  is  time  he 
should  have  more  of  the  comforts  of  life.  Teach  him  that 
it  is  not  paper  or  gold  money  that  will  benefit  him,  but  uni- 
versal labor  at  something  useful." 

Says  the  Commercial:  "Dr.  Price,  Abbe  Mably,  and  M. 
Turgot  gave  the  framers  of  this  government  some  good  ad- 
vice." It  is  a  source  of  sorrow  it  has  not  been  observed. 
These  men,  judging  from  their  acts,  believed  they  had  no 
moral  right  to  riches.  Abbe  Mably  was  born  in  1709.  He 
displayed  sound  moral  principles,  and  a  regard  for  the  good 
of  mankind.  He  was  fond  of  applying  ancient,  political 
maxims  to  modern  States,  which  gave  great  offense. 

Jaques   Robert  Turgot  was  born  in  Paris,  in  1727,  and 

*Chaucer,  in  his  "Persone's  Tale,"  has  some  keen  satire  on  woman's  dress. 
"  The  cost  of  embroidering,  endenting,  ounding,  paling,  bending,  and  cost- 
lewe  furring  on  the  gounes,  their  moche  superfluitee  in  length,  trailing  in  the 
dong  and  myre,  wastes,  consumes,  wears  threadbare  and  are  rotton  with  dirt, 
all  to  the  damage  of  the  poor  folk  who  might  be  clothed  out  of  the  flounces 
and  draggle -tailes  of  these  children  of  vanitee." — In  the  time  of  Richard  II. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  393 

died  in  1781.  When  a  boy,  he  determined  to  sacrifice  all 
advantages  to  liberty  and  conscience.  He  wrote  on  the 
goodness  of  religion  for  mankind.  He  was  a  disciple  of 
Quesnay,*  the  head  of  a  political  sect  called  "Economists." 
In  1761,  he  was  appointed  Intendant  of  Liomoges.  He  was 
made  Comptroller  of  the  finances  in  1774.  In  a  time  of 
scarcity  he  distributed  food,  and  introduced  the  cultivation 
of  potatoes.  He  made  new  roads  without  burdening  the 
people,  established  charitable  workshops,  opened  schools  of 
instruction  for  women  in  the  art  of  midwifery,  moderated 
the  duties  on  articles  of  first  necessity,  freed  commerce  of 
its  fetters,  enlarging  the  rights  of  men  to  follow  industry, 
abated  the  rigor  of  direct  imposition  on  the  profits  of  con- 
tributors, and  promoted  an  equal  distribution  of  the  taxes. 
He  made  salt  free,  reformed  the  royal  household,  and  made 
many  reforms  in  political  economy. 

His  plans  were  turned  into  ridicule,  by  making  little  snuff- 
boxes, and  calling  them  "Turgentines."  The  good  Louis 
said  of  "him:  "No  one  loves  the  people  but  M.  Turgot 
and  I."  La  Harpe  says  of  him  :  "  He  was  a  man  of  strong 
mind  ;  nothing  could  divert  him  from  doing  justice.  He 
had  only  two  passions,  science  and  public  good."  During 
the  few  years  he  was  occupied  as  minister  of  finance,  he 
bent  all  his  views  to  thevrelief  of  the  people.  Attached  to 
the  doctrines  of  the  Economists, f  he  developed  them  in 
edicts  that  tended  to  their  encouragement  and  improvement. 

*  Francis  Quesnay,  physician  of  Louis  XV,  taught,  that  only  those  who 
cultivate  the  earth,  or 'otherwise  bring  into  use  the  natural  powers  of  the  min- 
eral, animal,  and  vegetable  kingdom,  can  be  regarded  as  really  increasing  the 
wealth  of  the  community. 

•}•  Those  who  analyzed  the  frame  of  civil  society,  gathered  light  from  those 
who  lived  before  them,  and  tried  to  form  a  more  liberal  social  system  than 
those  that  were  known.  One  of  them,  M.  De  Gournay,  attacked  a  system 
which  compelled  a  man  to  get  a  privilege  to  sell  a  commodity. 


394  THE  LABORER; 

He  changed  acts  of  sovereign  authority  into  works  of  rea- 
soning and  persuasion.  His  reforms  created  him  many  ene- 
mies. He  lies  under  the  stigma  of  promoting  the  French 
Revolution,  and  he  is  charged  with  making  innovations  in 
favor  of  the  people.  He  died  at  forty-nine. 

Dr.  Price,  a  Welsh  Protestant  minister,  was  born  in 
1728,  and  died  in  1791.  In  1785,  he  gave  to  the  world 
"Observations  on  the  American  Revolution,  and  the  means 
of  making  it  useful  to  the  world."  He  gave  us  plans  how 
to  pay  the  national  debt,  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  this  na- 
tion. He  showed  that  absence  from  foreign  commerce  would 
make  us  virtuous  and  happy.  He  said:  "No  man  can  be 
raised  to  an  elevation  above  others  without  danger.  They 
who  trust  their  rights  to  others  trust  to  enemies." 

After  a  lapse  of  ninety  years,  this  people  have  degener- 
ated, and  we  can  not  now  be  called  a  free  nation.  The  revo- 
lutionary sires  would  not  pay  to  Britain  threepence  a  pound 
duty  on  tea,  or  use  their  stamped  paper.  The  usages  of  our 
society  are  so  contrived  that  millions  can  live  and  riot  work 
at  any  thing  useful,  and  become  very  rich.  Jay  Cooke 
is  supposed  to  be  worth  $10,000,000;  William  B.  Astor, 
$60,000,000;  Com.  Vanderbilt,  $50,000,000  ;  Dan.  Drew, 
$15,000,000.  The  interest  on  these  sums  is  $10,000,000, 
and  will  keep  from  useful  labors  25,000  persons.  This 
is  only  a  small  part  of  those  who  live  on  the  labor  of  others 
who  obtain  it  without  reflection  on  the  part  of  those  who 
create  it.  These  distinctions  were  introduced  in  this  way : 
Our  fathers  were  a  plain  people,  and  were  content  with  the 
productions  of  home.  Franklin's  wife  used  to  boil  his  milk, 
and  pour  it  on  bread  for  his  breakfast.  Merchants  have 
taken  away  cloth,  blankets,  leather,  etc.,  and  exchanged 
them  for  tea  leaves,  which  are  refold  to  the  poor,  who  are 
injured  by  this  exchange.  Were  this  to  cease  blankets  and 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  395 

clothing  would  be  more  abundant  among  us.  The  Pacific 
Railroad  is  an  example  of  what  Mr.  Price  said,  to  prove  the 
danger  to  us  in  delegating  civil  power  to  others.  Our  re- 
presentatives have  given  away  to  a  company  of  men  land 
sufficient  to  make  four  States  as  large  as  South  Carolina, 
which  contains  19,000,000  of  acres.  This  transaction,  in 
the  future,  will  make  hundreds  of  thousands  of  Americans 
slaves.  The  "N.  Y.  Ledger"  says  "the  Pacific  Rail- 
road will  make  such  private  fortunes  as  the  world  never 
saw."  James  Rothschild  died,  in  1868, worth  $400,000,000. 
This  sum  will  find  homes,  implements,  and  land  sufficient 
for  40,000  families.  This  paper  means  the  time  may  come 
when  some  men  will  have  the  maintenance  of  eighty,  per- 
haps 100,000  families.  The  benefits  of  this  road  are  to 
him  who  works  doubtful.  It  is  not  improbable  we  pay  for 
what  China  sells  us  $100,000,000  worth  of  our  most  use- 
ful goods.  $150,000,000  of  products  will  go  over  this  road 
to  buy  gold.  These  two  amounts,  if  saved,  will  give  half 
of  our  people,  who  are  without  homes,  at  the  end  of  ten 
years,  a  home  worth  $850.  This  calculation  supposes  the 
nation  to  number  6,000,000  families,  and  that  five  persons 
form  a  family.  These  two  sums  are  a  year's  traffic. 

This  road  will  introduce  luxury,  the  desire  to  be  covered 
with  laces,  ribbons,  and  fine  cloths,  Near  the  city  of  New 
York  a  farmer  gets  a  dollar  for  a  bushel  of  corn.  The  far- 
mer on  the  Pacific  road  will  sell  five  bushels  of  corn  for  a 
dollar.  When  this  distant  farmer  spends  his  dollar,  he  can 
not  get  as  much  for  it  as  the  New  York  farmer.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  one  to  obtain  all  the  comfort  he  can  in  ex- 
change for  his  labor.  Hence  it  is  the  duty  of  poorly-paid 
mechanics  to  go  among  the  distant  farmers  and  exercise  his 
trade  where  provisions  are  cheap,  where  his  labor  will  sell 
for  a  higher  value.  It  is  not  the  duty  of  either  of  these  two 


396  THE  LABORER; 

classes  to  give  any  part  of  their  earnings  to  enrich  railroad 
men  who  live  in  magnificent  style.  These  wealthy  railroad 
owners  were  once  merchants,  became  land  speculators,  and 
issuers  of  paper  money.  If  the  laborers  will  sweep  the  mer- 
chants away,  they  will  become  the  owners  of  railroads. 

Were  the  cost  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  spent  along  its 
route  in  all  kinds  of  manufactories,  the  people  would  be- 
come rich  and  happy.  This  merchants  will  prevent,  as  it 
will  send  them  to  the  plow  and  workshop. 

Merchants  have  a  way  of  taking  the  subsistence  of  our 
people  to  Europe  and  exchanging  it  for  trifles,  to  the  injury 
of  the  poor  of  those  countries,  who,  to  make  silks,  laces,  and 
fine  shawls  cheap,  must  live  and  work  in  cellars  and  attics. 
Says  a  Commissioner:  "Their  chambers  look  like  caves, 
in  which  the  air  is  never  renewed.  The  poor  man  is  in 
rags,  his  children  are  lean  and  puny,  with  emaciated  limbs, 
ulcerated  fingers,  and  crooked,  softened  bones."  The  di- 
rector of  the  Prussian  king's  factories,  M.  Mayet,  in  1796, 
said:  "The  cessation  of  work  causes  some  to  steal,  others 
to  emigrate.  Their  vices  are  the  offspring  of  others'  lux- 
ury, which  are  produced  by  some  acquiring  riches.  Work- 
men must  not  be  suffered  to  enrich  themselves.  In  becom- 
ing so  he  is  difficult  and  exacting,  enters  into  combinations, 
imposes  laws,  and  becomes  dissipated.  The  rich  stuffs  he 
makes  should  be  watered  with  his  tears."  Were  Ameri- 
cans to  do  without  foreign  goods,  their  makers  would  emi- 
grate to  other  lands — to  cultivate  them. 

John  Adams  took  great  offense  at  the  advice  and  plain- 
ness of  Mably,  Price,  and  Turgot.  He  wrote  as  a  reply, 
"The  Defense  of  the  State  Constitutions."  M.  Turgot 
said :  "The  Americans  have  imitated  the  English  Govern- 
ment without  any  motives."  Mr.  Adams  wrote  more  than 
1,500  pages  showing  that  mankind  should  be  governed  by  the 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  397 

superior  classes.  He  wrote  in  favor  of  three  powers  ruling 
this  people  :  a  Governor,  Senate,  and  House  of  Represen- 
tatives. The  Senate  were  "to  be  rich  and  high  born,"  so 
that  they  could  protect  their  property  from  the  aggressive 
poor.  The  House  of  Representatives  was  to  be  composed  of 
the  poor,  who  would  be  a  check  on  the  oppressiveness  of 
the  rich.  It  is  a  beautiful  fiction,  two  houses  a  check  on 
each  other.  Both  are  rich  now  and  plunder  toiling  men. 

Mr.  ADAMS  said:  "They  [the  rich]  have  rights  as  well  as  the  others.  They 
have  as  clear  and  sacred  rights  to  their  large  possessions  as  others  have  to  theirs, 
which  are  smaller.  Oppression  is  to  them  as  possible,  and  as  wicked  as  to 
others.  The  rich,  therefore,  ought  to  have  as  an  effectual  barrier  in  the  con- 
stitution against  being  robbed  as  the  poor." 

This  acknowledges  that  the  rich  are  not  just  to  laboring 
men.  That  we  have  degenerated  from  happiness,  virtue, 
and  freedom,  may  be  inferred  by  reading  Mrs.  Grant's  book 
on  America  in  1760:  "Every  one  in  town  or  country  had 
a  garden,  with  all  kinds  of  vegetables.  After  it  was  dug  no 
man  intruded.  I  have  often  seen  a  minister's  wife  with  a 
basket  of  seeds  and  a  rake  over  her  shoulder.  A  woman 
in  easy  circumstances  would  plant,  sow,  and  rake. 

"  Each  family  had  a  cow.  Nothing  could  be  more  pleas- 
ing to  a  benevolent  mind  than  to  see  the  inhabitants  of  a 
town  containing  not  one  very  poor  or  very  rich,  very  igno- 
rant or  very  knowing,  very  rude  or  very  polished  -individ- 
ual; to  see  all  these  children  of  nature  enjoying  themselves 
in  easy  indolence,  or  social  intercourse. 

"•Fraud  and  avarice  are  the  vices  of  society,  and  do  not 
thrive  in  the  forest." 

Mr.Winterbottom,  in  his  "  History  of  America,"  printed 
in  1797,  savs  mucn  °n  the  happy  condition  of  the  people. 
The  Americans  should  feel  shame  at  having  lost  so  much 

liberty,  which  comes  from  delegating  political  power  to  men 
oo 


398  THE  LABORER; 

of  wealth.  In  Vol.  Ill  is  this  :  "The  American  States  fur- 
nish a  smaller  proportion  of  rich  and  poor  than  any  other  dis- 
trict in  the  known  world.  In  Connecticut  the  distribution 
of  wealth  is  more  equal  than  elsewhere,  and  will  apply  to 
all  New  England.  The  great  body  of  the  land-holders  are 
cultivators  of  the  soil.  They  are  removed  from  temptations 
of  luxury.  Their  industry  and  frugality  exempt  them  from 
want.  The  people  of  New  England  obtain  their  estates  by 
hard  labor,  and  none  are  better  furnished  with  the  conven- 
iences of  life.  Idleness  with  those  of  independent  fortune 
is  disreputable." 

The  writer  has  read  much  to  find  out  if  any  crime  ex- 
isted in  the  beginning  of  this  nation.  Mr.Winterbottom  tells 
us,  in  1792,  Boston  had  seventy-seven  convicts  making  nails, 
on  a  small  island  guarded  by  sixty  soldiers.  This  city  then 
contained  35,000  persons.  New  York  City  had  a  greater 
proportion  of  bad  people  than  this.  It  was  caused  by  this: 
u  The  Governors  of  this  [N.  Y.]  State  were  many  of  them 
land-jobbers,  bent  on  making  their  fortunes ;  and  being  in- 
vested with  power,  they  engrossed  for  themselves,  or  pa- 
tented away  to  their  favorites,  a  great  part  of  this  province. 
The  genius  of  this  State  still  favors  large  monopolies  of 
land . ' ' —  Winterbottom . 

This  same  author  tells  us:  "  That  young  people  marry 
early  without  obstacles,  and  are  not  tempted  to  dishonor 
themselves.  Disgusting  disease  was  almost  unknown  be- 
fore the  Revolution.  Foreign  armies  naturalized  it.  *  *  *A 
grandmother  at  twenty-seven  is  often  seen. 

"•Georgia  gave  away  her  land  on  condition  of  cultivation, 
residence,  and  defense.  When  the  male  line  expired,  the 
land  was  to  go  back  to  the  government,  so  as  to  prevent  one 
person  having  more  land  than  another.  This  was  null  and 
void  if  it  did  not  make  the  female  heir's  possession  too  large. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  399 

u  In  Kentucky,  in  1780,  if  a  man  staid  a  year  in  that 
State,  and  raised  a  crop  of  corn  in  it,  he  was  entitled  to  400 
acres  of  land.  In  this  State  towns  were  laid  out,  the  min- 
ister, schoolmaster,  tavern-keeper,  and  magistrate  had  each 
a  building  lot  given  them.  Judges  and  Congressmen  had 
more  than  one  given  them." 

Why  should  social  distinctions  exist  in  human  life  ?  Is 
not  the  laborer  who  prepares  the  fuel  to  keep  us  warm,  the 
bricks  and  mortar  that  constructs  the  home  which  shelters 
us  from  the  pitiless  storm,  as  good  as  they  are,  and  just  as 
useful  ?  Is  not  the  mechanic  who  makes  the  leather  that 
protects  the  feet,  and  he  who  makes  the  clothing  that  keeps 
us  warm,  entitled  to  lots  as  well  as  Judges  and  Congressmen 
who  corrupt  human  society,  and  live  by  its  corruptions.* 

"John  Locke  was  forced  by  the  proprietors  of  Carolina 
to  make  them  a  government.  He  gave  to  each  county  a 
landgrave  and  two  caciques,  who  could  only  own  two-fifths 
of  it.  The  three-fifths  were  to  belong  to  the  people.  Vir- 
ginia gave  to  settlers  1,000  acres,  who  were  to  pay  a  penny 
an  acre  rent." — Winterbottom  s  American  History. 

*  Hon.  B.  F.  Wade  seems  to  be  an  exception.  These  are  his  sayings  :  "  That 
system  of  labor  which  degrades  the  poor  man  and  elevates  the  rich  ;  which  drags 
the  very  soul  out  of  him  for  a  pitiful  existence,  is  wrong.  We  must  elevate  the 
laborer  and  give  him  a  share  in  the  proceeds  of  his  labor.  The  shadow  of  a 
great  struggle  is  upon  us,  and  we  must  meet  it.  There  is  a  deep  discontent, 
a  feverish  excitement,  a  restlessness  with  their  lot  among  the  poorer  classes  we 
can  not  disregard.  The  people  want  more  recreation,  enjoyment,  and  relief 
from  their  monotonous,  half-starved  condition,  and  they  will  have  it." 

This  philanthropist  made  attacks  on  slavery,  when  our  religious  people 
were  dormant.  He  battled  with  prejudice  in  high  places,  and  made  a  part  of 
the  colored  people  of  the  District  of  Columbia  men — by  obtaining  for  them 
the  privilege  of  voting.  He  caused  laws  to  be  made  that  the  wild  lands  should 
be  free  to  those  who  would  settle  them.  This  he  might  have  done  sooner  ^ad 
he  not  been  surrounded  with  Southern  Senators,  whose  rule  of  action  was  to 
suppress  all  plans  that  would  ameliorate  the  condition  of  Northern  laborers, 
because  the  contrast  with  their  slaves  would  be  too  great. 


400  THE  LABORER; 

If  this  author  could  collect  this  information,  so  could  the 
Fathers  of  this  nation  do  the  same.  Their  conscience  and 
reason  should  have  taught  them  that  they  should  have  given 
building  lots  to  mechanics,  and  limited  farms  to  laborers. 
The  Fathers  seemed  to  think  that  the  toiling  part  of  com- 
munity should  pay  the  nation's  expenses.  To  illustrate  this : 
The  Fathers  gave  160  acres  of  land  to  a  church,  if  the  mem- 
bers should  rent  this  land  and  pay  the  pastor  his  salary  out 
of  these  rents.  Where  is  the  justice  in  making  a  few  tenants 
pay  for  the  preaching  that  many  enjoy?  To  a  school  dis- 
trict is  given  160  acres,  and  it  is  sold  to  two  persons  for 
$1,600.  This  sum,  when  at  interest,  will  pay  the  teacher. 
Why  should  injustice  be  practiced  on  these  two  men,  and 
they  paying  the  teacher's  salary  exempting  the  parents  who 
get  the  benefits,  and  are  able  to  pay  the  teacher.  The  Rev- 
olution benefited  all,  who  should  equally  pay  its  expenses. 
To  make  laborers  pay  for  land  was  unjust.  The  unculti- 
vated land  is  God's  gift  to  man,  and  no  body  of  men  have 
the  right  to  sell  lands,  on  which  there  has  been  no  human 
labor,  nor  has  any  one  a  right  to  more  than  he  can  cultivate. 
Selling  the  wild  lands  to  pay  for  past  wars  to  exempt  "the 
rich  and  well-born"  from  taxation,  has  filled  this  country 
with  woe  and  crimes. 

John  Adams,  in  his  ''Defense,"  says:  "The  people  of 
Bilboa  [in  Italy]  arose  and  killed  the  officers  appointed  to 
collect  the  duty  on  salt.  They  defeated  3,000  soldiers  sent 
against  them,  and  drove  them  into  the  sea. 

"In  the  Swiss  republic  of  Grisons,  the  inhabitants  live  to- 
gether in  a  perfect  equality,  exempt  from  the  refinements 
of  luxury.  There  are  none  so  rich  as  to  gain  an  ascendency. 
There  are  noble  families  who  live  by  cultivating  the  earth." 

Mr.  Adams  gives  us  a  sketch  of  more  than  fifty  republics 
and  states,  which  he  thought  were  not  suitable  for  us  to 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  401 

imitate.  He  also  wrote  much  to  ridicule  the  opinions  of 
Plato,  Milton,  Sidney,  Locke,  and  Franklin,  who  thought 
men  would  be  happier  without  cumbersome  governments. 
John  Adams  while  in  England,  from  1784  to  1787,  wrote 
to  prove  that  we  needed  such  a  government  as  now  exists, 
which  has  brought  this  people  from  innocence  to  crime, 
from  a  period  when  all  had  homes,  to  now  when  half  of  the 
nation  have  none.  It  has  introduced  crime  and  a  state  of 
insecurity  that  is  alarming.  It  was  not  so  once.  The  Mar- 
quis Beccaria,  a  French  political  writer,  in  his  book,  says: 
u  Criminals  in  the  English  colonies  become  honest  people. 
We  are  astonished  at  the  change,  yet  nothing  can  be  more 
natural.  The  condemned  are  forced  to  continued  labor; 
opportunities  to  vice  are  wanting.  They  marry  and  multiply. 
Oblige  men  to  work,  and  you  make  them  honest.'* 

John  Adams  and  his  friends  got  plenty  of  land,  and  the  in- 
stitutions of  the  nation  were  so  framed  that  the  people  would 
be  poor  and  work  their  land.  The  first  method  was  to  de- 
stroy "The  Penn.  Loan  Office,"  where  poor  men  could 
borrow  money  to  begin  farming  with  on  land  rented  at  one 
cent  per  acre.  The  second  method  was  to  cause  them  to 
buy  land  of  a  speculator  at  a  high  rate. 

The  theory  of  government  is,  men  wanting  happiness 
must  find  it  in  society,  useful  industry,  and  assisting  each 
other.  At  a  public  meeting,  one  says:  If  we  build  a  rail- 
road to  the  coal-mines  it  will  save  our  time.  A  majority  vot- 
ing for  it,  the  expense  is  met  by  the  people  pledging  their 
property  to  the  State  for  the  money,  or  it  can  be  built  by  an 
annual  contribution  for  ten  years.  Suppose  a  tribe,  num- 
bering thirty,  want  to  have  a  war.  They  debate  and  con- 
clude that  seven  soldiers  can  be  fed,  clothed,  and  equipped, 
out  of  their  number. 

One  says  I  will  lend  to  you  the  money.     After  awhile  a 


402  THE  LABORER; 

thinking  mind  sees  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  keep  a  paper 
money  lender.  This  little  community,  by  making  its  own 
paper  money,  will  compel  the  lender  to  become  a  soldier  or 
a  producer.  This  applies  to  30,000,000.  Future  genera- 
tions can  not  give  back  this  generation  the  food  and  clothes 
which  they  have  paid  to  soldiers.  It  is  very  simple  to  give 
the  cost  of  the  war,  two  or  three  times  over,  in  the  form 
of  interest,  wfth  the  hope  of  getting  in  the  future  that  which 
has  been  spent  in  the  past.  It  is  the  duty  of  a  people  to 
maintain  as  many  soldiers  as  they  can,  and  when  the  war  is 
over  end  the  expense.  War  is  one  of  these  occasions  that 
enables  many  to  attach  themselves  to  society,  and  obtain  a 
permanent  support. 

Senator  Chase,  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  found  this  na- 
tion with  a  currency  of  $300,000,000,  which  he  increased 
to  $700,000,000.  It  caused  the  commodities  of  life  to  be 
twice  as  high.  To  those  who  furnished  supplies,  he  paid  in 
paper,  earning  interest.  Tn<>se  who  had  saved  money  could 
only  purchase  half  as  much  as  they  did.  Many  statesmen 
are  in  favor  of  bringing  paper  money  to  the  value  of  gold. 
This  will  cause  misery  to  those  who  are  in  debt.  It  will  take 
more  labor  to  pay  the  nation's  interest.  Issuing  paper  was 
an  injury  to  the  working  people.* 

If  I  were  to  stand  on  a  highway  and  take  ten  cents  from 
a  man  I  should  be  punished.  If  I  put  a  bar  across  a  road, 
and  say  to  a  traveler  you  must  pay  me  ten  cents  to  travel 
on  this  road,  as  I  built  it,  the  traveler  could  say,  laborers 
built  this  road,  mechanics  and  farmers  clothed  and  fed  them. 
You  have  only  used  cunning  to  obtain  this  road,  which  has 
cost  you  paper  money,  the  making  of  which  did  not  take  a 
day.  It  is  the  duty  of  society  to  purchase  this  road  by  is- 

*  The  writer  believes  this  nation's  debts  should  be  paid  as  agreed  on.  Taxes 
might  have  supplied  the  soldier's  wants.  The  debt  is  a  scheme  to  live  easily. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  403 

suing  paper  money  and  offering  it  to  the  unnatural  owner  for 
it.  This  money  will  buy  him  farms  and  tools,  then  he  can 
go  to  work  like  the  rest  of  mankind.  Working  people  do 
themselves  an  injustice  to  allow  others  to  live  in  idleness 
from  the  profits  of  the  roads  and  bridges.  The  pike  be- 
tween Piqua  and  Troy,  O.,  receives  one-third  of  its  value 
annually  in  tolls.  The  American  people  are  getting  to  be 
numerous,  and  it  is  just  that  these  tolls  should  be  theirs. 

Society  saves  a  fourth  of  its  time  having  money.  The  is- 
sues of  money  from  a  State  would  give  us  a  currency.  A 
good  man  never  seeks  an  office.  A  farmer,  having  always 
good  crops,  well-fed  cattle,  obedient,  well-behaved  children, 
neatness  on  his  farm,  not  overrun  with  weeds,  one  not  given 
to  kid  gloves  or  fashionable  clothing,  who  speaks  kindly  to 
his  neighbor,  and  assists  the  orphans — such  a  one  will  be 
a  good  public  officer.  Having  learned  to  live  from  the  soil, 
he  will  not  favor  paper  or  credit  schemes  that  will  make 
coats,  hats,  shoes,  food,  etc.,  twice  the  value  of  the  usual 
price,  and  then  buy  large  quantities  of  them  on  credit  for 
the  use  of  soldiers,  which  are  to  be  paid  for  by  future  gen- 
erations. Common  minds  know  these  things  are  in  the 
country,  and  that  the  tax-gatherer  can  collect  the  money  to 
purchase  them,  and  that  the  operation  can  be  renewed  till 
the  war  is  ended.  The  mind  of  such  a  man  can  not  see, 
after  feeding  and  clothing  a  number  of  soldiers,  how  the 
cost  is  to  be  got  back  again  twenty  or  thirty  years  from  now, 
and  we  still  keep  on  feeding  and  clothing  a  number  of  per- 
sons. When  a  person  fills  an  office  well,  and  is  not  given 
to  peculation,  how  absurd  it  is  to  remove  him. 

There  are  a  number  of  persons  who  meet  to  discuss 
"Social  Science;"  this  may  give  them  some  light.  In  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  Botany  Bay  had  5,000  criminals. 
To  reform  them,  they  were  set  to  work  on  public  fountains, 


404  THE  LABORER; 

making  fine  columns  for  public  buildings,  and  to  work  on 
the  governor's  stables.  In  addition  to  this,  add  the  mainten- 
ance of  ladies  learning  Latin,  in  cells  with  carpeted  floors 
and  papered  walls,  officers  of  government,  policemen  with 
clubs,  professors  of  colleges,  and  other  persons  too  numer- 
ous to  mention,  and  you  make  them  poor,  abject,  and  envi- 
ous. One  inquires,  Why  am  1  made  to  differ  from  others? 
Why  are  others  fed  on  turkeys,  eggs,  and  fowls,  while  I  am 
in  rags,  and  have  the  coarsest  fare  ?  *  To  get  the  superflui- 
ties of  life,  I  will  not  trample  on  others !  To  gain  riches,  I 
will  not  push  others  down !  I  will  try  and  bear  my  bur- 
dens !  Society  has  made  me  what  I  am  !  f 

It  must  be  self-evident  if  you  relieve  the  poor  convicts  of 
these  burdens,  you  make  them  virtuous  and  happy.  The 
more  you  pile  scholars,  philosophers,  statesmen,  and  others 
on  toiling  men,  the  more  hungry,  vicious,  and  ignorant  they 
become.  It  is  the  duty  of  all  to  spend  a  part  of  their  time 
in  the  field  and  shop.  The  people  of  Acadia  and  uncivil- 
ized Paraguay  show  us  that  security,  order,  and  virtue  can 
be  attained  without  our  usages.  A  display  of  virtue  like  this 
can  never  happen  in  highly  civilized  countries.  Columbus 
writes  to  his  king  and  queen  thus:  "When  the  Pinto  was 
wrecked,  the  natives  swam  about  and  collected  every  thing 
on  the  beach.  The  property  could  not  have  been  better 
taken  care  of  in  Spain.  Nothing  was  stole  n." -Jointer  bottom. 

A  great  source  of  intemperance  is  from  the  idle  sons  of 
rich  men,  who,  having  no  occupation,  learn  habits  of  dissipa- 
tion. Many,  who  work,  having  poor  homes,  are  attracted 

Bishop  Potter,  in  his  "Arts  and  Sciences,"  tells  us  that  sawdust  can   be 
made  into  palatable  puddings. — Harper's  Family  Library. 

j-  Bishop  Potter,  in  his  "  Political  Economy,"  gives  us  the  Chaplain's 
"  Report  of"  the  Conn.  State  Prison."  "Thieves  and  robbers  attempt  to  jus- 
tify their  course,  on  the  ground  that  one  man  has  no  right  to  hold  property 
more  than  another,  and  they  take  from  the  rich  only." 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONG&.  405 

to  the  gay  drinking  saloons.  It  is  not  improbable  that  this 
nation  spends  annually  $300,000,000  on  tobacco  and  strong 
drink,  which  in  ten  years  will  buy  every  five  persons  a  good 
house  having  four  rooms.  A  mechanic,  when  buying  a 
drink,  saw  an  open  door,  and  heard  a  female  voice,  saying  : 
"Where  did  you  get  this  fine  furniture  ? "  The  reply  was  : 
"The  fool's  pence  bought  it."  The  man  repented?  Dur- 
ing a  rain-shower  a  woman  took  refuge  in  his  house,  and 
said  :  <l J  know  you,  sir:  where  did  you  get  your  fine  fur- 
niture?" He  replied:  " The  fool's  pence  bought  it."  He 
told  her  what  she  had  said,  and  its  effect. 

A  tobacco-using  and  liquor-drinking  person  can  cure  his 
faults  by  visiting  "The  Children's  Home"  or  an  "Asylum 
for  Orphans,"  and  see  good  women  clothing  and  feeding 
poor  outcasts.  The  effect  will  be — money  foolishly  spent 
will  be  used  doing  good.  Another  method  to  cure  an  afflicted 
drinking  man  is  to  try  and  send  a  poor  boy  to  an  industrial 
school.  This  will  give  him  a  sincere  mourner  at  his  grave, 
who  will  inscribe  on  his  tombstone  this  affectionate  record. 

MR.  MADE  ME  A  GOOD  AND  USEFUL  MAN. 

If  a  person  persists  in  smoking  and  drinking,  he  is  liable 
to  be  poor,  to  be  put  in  a  mean  coffin,  and  carried  to  his 
grave  in  an  express  wagon  as  if  he  was  a  brute. 

To  escape  the  miseries  of  war  caused  some  pious  men  to 
go  to  new  countries  to  create  homes.  They  were  very  sys- 
tematic, as  will  be  seen  by  this  account: 

They  were  governed  by  abbots  and  priors,  who  had  charge 
of  the  abbey.  The  next  officer  was  the  almoner,  who  distri- 
buted alms  at  the  gate  for  the  poor,  and  gave  home  relief. 

The  sacrist  took  care  of  the  communion  vessels,  provided 
the  bread  and  wine,  kept  the  altar-cloths  clean,  furnished 
wax-candles,  and  rung  the  bell  at  service  and  burials. 


406  THE  LABORER; 

The  chamberlain  had  the  care  of  the  dormitory,  and  the 
providing  of  beds,  razors,  scissors,  towels,  clothes,  and  shoes 
for  the  monks,  and  tools  for  shoeing  the  abbot's  horses. 

The  cellarer  provided  flesh,  fish,  fowl,  wine,  wheat,  fire 
wood,  malt,  and  kitchen  utensils  for  monks  and  visitors. 

The  hospitaller,  gave  entertainment  to  guests  and  travel- 
lers. He  was  to  have  beds,  seats,  tables,  napkins,  basins, 
plates,  and  spoons  for  the  guests,  and  bring  them  food. 

The  master  of  the  infirmary  took  care  of  the  aged  and  sick, 
and  prepared  food  and  comfort  for  their  infirm  condition. 

The  head-chanter  had  the  care  of  the  choir  service,  the 
organist,  and  chorister,  and  provided  them  with  books.  He 
had  charge  of  the  abbey-seal,  chapter-book,  records  of  the 
public  business,  and  furnished  parchment,  pens  and  ink  for 
the  writers,  and  colors  for  the  painters  of  missals. 

The  rules  of  St.  Benedict  directed  that  six  hours  daily 
were  to  be  given  to  manual  labor  in  shops  in  the  monastery. 
Some  were  tailors,  shoemakers,  jewelers,  cabinet-makers, 
book-binders,  sculptors,  carvers,  painters,  and  writers. 

The  cursitor's  business  was  to  visit  the  shops,  and  notice 
who  were  absent,  idle,  and  talking.  It  was  his  duty  to  go 
about  during  prayers  and  see  that  none  were  asleep. 

Institutions  like  these  were  wanted  to  refine  and  teach 
industry  to  the  rude  Saxons.  They  accomplished  this,  and 
became  corrupt.  These  monks  got  the  greatest  part  of  the 
land  as  gifts.  They  contrived  to  have  the  abbey  on  a  run- 
ning stream,  so  as  to  have  a  mill.  The  garden  and  bake- 
house were  on  the  place,  so  as  not  to  go  abroad  for  supplies. 
This  made  them  rich.  Then  their  labor  was  done  by  serv- 
ants. WiclifF brought  some  charges  against  them.  His  opin- 
ions became  universal,  and  these  institutions  were  absorbed 
by  the  men  of  wealth,  who  set  the  poor  man  to  work  for 
their  benefit.  A  change  is  coming  that  will  help  the  poor. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  407 

The  farmers  and  mechanics  create  a  pile  of  food  and  use- 
ful things,  annually,  amounting  to  $3,000,000,000.  These 
various  classes  of  consumers  destroy  the  greatest  quantity. 

Lawyers,  physicians,  and  clergymen $83,000,000. 

Merchants  and  clerks } 73,000,000. 

National  and  State  governments 700,000,000. 

Those  who  insure  lives  and  houses 30,000,000. 

Tea  makers  and  gold  seekers 200,000,000. 

Cost  of  tobacco  and  drinking 300,000,000. 

Earnings  of  railroads,  bridges,  and  pikes 100,000,000. 

Interest  paid  on  railroad  and  private  debts 100,000,000. 

House  rents  from  3,000,000  of  families 90,000,000. 

Profits  to  bankers  and  brokers 25,000,000. 


Amount  consumed  by  non-producers $1,701,000,000. 

In  our  Senate  it  was  said:  "Your  manual  laborers  are 
but  slaves  ;  and  if  they  knew  their  power,  your  government 
would  be  reconstructed."  Laborers  working  for  a  rich  man 
give  him  an  easy  abundance.  Were  they  philosophers,  they 
would  say:  "We  want  not  your  money  !  Go  work,  add  to  a 
world's  wealth  ! "  To  make  a  store  front  a  mass  of  statues, 
eyeless  faces,  and  fine  stone-carvings,  in  which  to  put  our 
hats  and  shoes,  is  unnecessary  and  wasted  labor  ? 

Pious  "Aunt  Effie"  expected  to  die  with  hunger.  "  The 
Shepherd  of  the  Plain,"  for  his  Sunday  dinner  had  potatoes 
and  salt.  The  family,  in  the  "First  of  the  Week,"  were 
thankful  for  gravy  on  their  Sunday  food.  The  meat  was 
eaten  next  day.  On  Wednesday  the  bones  were  stewed. 
The  diet,  the  rest  of  the  week,was  bread  and  potatoes.  "The 
Happy  Waterman  "  was  a  frugal  Christian,  which  enabled 
him  to  buy  a  boat,  and  comforts  for  home.  This  was  taken 
as  evidence  that  he  had  found  a  lost  purse  of  gold.  It  cost 
him  much  to  get  acquitted.  These  sorrowful  tales,  and  oth- 
ers, are  found  in  a  Methodist  book-store  in  this  city,  which 
is  as  beautiful  as  can  be  seen  anvwhere.  The  two  entrances 


408  THE  LABORER; 

are  arched.  The  window  top  is  a  quarter  of  a  circle  in  each 
corner,  joined  by  a  straight  line.  Six  delicate  columns,  with 
foliated  capitals  ornament  the  doors.  On  the  arches  are  ob- 
lique openings,  and  carved  leaves  and  scrolls.  The  upper 
windows  are  columned  in  the  corners.  The  highest  win- 
dows have  between  them  as  brackets  a  smiling  female  face, 
and  two  male  faces  with  sheep's  horns.  The  cornice  has 
four  gargoyle  likenesses  in  it.  The  imposing  cornice  has  on 
it  two  large  globes.  Poverty  comes  from  ill-spent  labor. 

A  book  printer  sets  up  "Notes  on  the  Revelations,"  or 
"On  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope."  He  then  has  to  wait 
till  another  work  comes  in,  which  is  u  The  Prairie  Boy,"  or 
"The  Fisherman's  Son."  While  waiting  for  work,  the  prin- 
ter often  loses  six  months  in  the  year.  There  are  so  many 
new  titled  books  made  in  a  year,  that  their  names  can  not  be 
read  or  remembered.,  This  printer  is  an  involuntary  idler. 

Laborers  would  be  happier  if  they  would  leave  those,  who 
draw  such  large  supplies  of  their  toil  for  frivolous  uses,  and  go 
into  the  wilderness  and  found  new  homes.  Skilled  laborers, 
by  exchanging  labor,  can  have,  in  two  years,  houses  and  mills 
to  make  life  happy.  They  need  not  labor  more  than  four 
hours  in  a  day,  and  live  free  from  painful  fears  and  cares. 

The  earth  has  an  abundance.  Labor  has  multiplied  forty 
times  by  machinery  since  we  have  become  a  nation.  Most 
of  our  peopletare  poor.  We  are  further  from  freedom  now 
after  a  national  existence  of  a  century.  The  cause  is  dele- 
gating power  to  rich  men,  who  use  it  to  benefit  themselves. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

CONCLUSION. 

A  WASHINGTON  LETTER — THE  PACIFIC  RAILROAD  A  MEANS  or  ACQUIRING 
TERRITORY  WITHOUT  WAR — How  THE  KING  OF  PRUSSIA  OBTAINED  REVE- 
NUE FROM  A  CANAL — GENERAL  DEARBORN'S  TESTIMONY  ON  MERCHANTS. 

"  Love  mercy,  do  justice,  and  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." — BIBLE  PRECEPT. 

[OMMON  sense  should  be  the  guide  of  the  laborer 
on  the  subject  of  political  economy.  The  political 
economists,  whose  books  are  used  in  the  colleges, 
mislead  the  laboring  men  so  as  to  have  ease.  They  flatter  the 
follies  of  the  rich,  that  they  may  gain  their  money.  States- 
men at  Washington  will  not  ameliorate  the  laborer's  condi- 
tion, as  it  would  doom  them  to  toil,  and  put  an  end  to  the 
extravagant  dressing,  feasts,  and  parties  of  their  wives  and 
daughters.  If  you  remonstrate  with  these  people  on  the 
sin  of  destroying  what  has  cost  so  much  toil,  they  will  tell 
you  it  is  good  for  trade,  it  gives  work  to  mechanics.  If  you 
tell  them  it  is  cruel  to  keep  servants  so  long  on  their  feet,  to 
wait  on  them  and  prepare  their  food,  it  will  awaken  no  pite- 
ous feelings,  or  a  desire  to  share  their  toils. 

A  Washington  letter  tells  us  of  a  poor  boy  in  its  jail,  who 
writes  to  his  sister  thus:  "CI  have  a  nice,  warm  room,  good 
bed,  and  plenty  to  eat.  I  believe  I  will  be  sent  to  the  peni- 
tentiary, where  I  will  be  clothed,  fed,  and  taught  a  trade, 
and  be  able  to  obtain  my  living.'  His  companions  in  the 
street  shouted  to  him,  and  hoped  soon  to  be  with  him. 

409 


4io  THE  LABORER; 

"How  many  of  these  rogues  in  punishing  do  we  make? 
The  rich  grow  richer,  and  the  poor  poorer.  What  will  be 
our  proportion  after  a  time?  What  are  the  terrors  of  the 
penitentiary  to  a  half-starved  boy? 

"I  think  we  have  succeeded  in  catching  the  most  harm- 
less of  our  criminals;  the  weak  alone  are  detected.  The 
cold,  cautious,  calculating  scoundrel  goes  unpunished.  On 
the  floor  of  the  Senate  or  House  note  the  faces  of  the  men 
who  have  stolen  their  thousands,  and  see  their  clear,  intellect- 
ual countenances.  These  are  the  larger  and  more  danger- 
ous rogues,  who  have  not  only  escaped  conviction,  but  are 
honored  among  men.  They  move  in  the  best  society,  their 
wives  are  admired,  and  daughters  sought  after."* 

This  will  ever  be  the  condition  of  society  while  the  men 
of  wealth  make  the  laws.  The  laborers  should  leave  their 
farms  and  shops,  to  attend  primary  meetings,  and  send  to 
rule  their  own  classes,  those  who  are  free  from  selfishness 
and  avarice.  All  power  only  should  be  vested  in  those  who 
toil ;  without  their  labor  we  would  all  soon  perish.  A  good 
man  will  resolve  not  to  be  rich.  He  will  labor  with  his  own 
hands,  and  will  tell,  if  he  knows,  what  is  the  cost  price  of 
goods.  He  wants  no  profits,  and  will  invite  others  to  be- 
come his  partners.  A  man,  to  be  rich,  is  evidence  that  he  is 
wanting  in  benevolence,  and  is  not  fit  to  make  laws.  To 
prove  which,  take  the  example  of  a  man  in  Illinois,  who  owns 
40,000  acres,  or  eight  miles  square,  which  are  cultivated 
by  3,500  persons.  He  is  richer  than  all  of  them. 

Our  rulers  knew  that  conquest  is  attended  with  danger, 
and  that  legislation  is  the  same  as  conquest.  For  instance, 
beyond  Missouri  are  large  tracts  of  land,  stretching  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  which,  at  the  proper  time,  would  have  been 
filled  with  a  laboring  people,  who  would  rely  upon  their  own 
*  Cincinnati  Commercial,  January  29,  1869. 


A  REMEDY  EOR  HIS  WRONGS.  411 

resources;  they  would  surround  themselves  with  all  kinds  of 
factories,  and  be  strangers  to  luxury,  having  ease  and  leisure. 
Our  rulers  wish  to  make  the  people  slaves,  the  victims  of 
merchants,  and  a  prey  to  land  speculators.  This  was  done 
by  making  a  decree,  that  an  area  equal  to  three  times  Great 
Britain  shall  belong  to  a  few,  who  shall  build  a  railroad  to 
the  Pacific.  These  share  the  plunder  with  the  rulers,  and 
will  be  a  means  of  gaining  enormous  tribute  out  of  the  set- 
tlers. The  design  is  to  compel  them  to  send  wool  and  get 
clothing  from  a  distance. 

Once  the  king  of  Prussia  built  a  canal  at  the  State's  ex- 
pense, and  rented  it  to  the  highest  bidder.  If  the  people 
will  use  the  herb  which  East  India  merchants  introduced 
among  us,  it  would  have  been  wise  had  Congress  printed 
$100,000,000,  which  would  have  cost  $200,000,  and  built 
the  road,  and  then  rented  it  to  the  highest  bidder  every  ten 
years  ;  it  would  give  an  increasing  revenue.  Franklin  said  : 
"  Silks  and  satins  put  out  the  kitchen  fires.  Tea  can  not 
be  called  a  necessary.  Were  all  men  scholars,  we  would 
want  bread." 

A  fearful  retribution  seems  to  overtake  traders.  Gen. 
Dearborn,  a  collector  of  the  port  of  Boston,  said  :  ll  He  was 
satisfied  that,  among  100  merchants,  not  more  than  three 
ever  attained  independence."  This  is  the  testimony  of 
others.  Woes  are  pronounced  against  riches  in  the  world 
to  come. 

John  Adams  kept  an  account  how  he  spent  his  time  from 
1 763  to  1 795.  This  is  an  entry  :  "  This  day  my  men  have 
made  hay,  and  I  have  read  Plutarch."  Would  it  not  have 
been  more  humane  if  he  had  said,  I  have  this  day  made  my 
hay,  and  read  Plutarch  in  the  evening?  It  would  have  re- 
lieved his  drudges,  who  would  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
obtain  some  learning  also.  How  natural  it  was  for  Messrs. 


412  THE  LABORER; 

Adams,   Hamilton,  and   Morris,  when  sent  to  frame  the 
usages  of  society,  so  to  do  it  that  they  could  have  easy  lives. 

To  society  belongs  the  roads  and  bridges.  Private  indi- 
viduals owning  these  have  obtained  them  through  the  base- 
ness of  rulers.  Common  roads  in  England  are  owned  by 
the  community,  and  their  earnings  are  devoted  to  keeping 
the  poor.  A  king  does  not  like  to  hear  the  murmurings  of 
his  people.  He  contrives  to  have  as  few  as  possible  to  eat 
up  his  people's  subsistence.  The  Prussian  king  wears  his 
coat  so  long,  it  would  not  sell  for  a  dollar.  He  is  frugal,  to 
save  his  people  from  being  absorbed  by  other  nations. 

In  republics  are  many  tyrants,  who  fatten  on  the  people, 
eat  up  their  food,  and  consume  their  clothing.  Their  plan 
is  to  fill  an  office,  make  all  they  can,  and  retire  at  the  end 
of  two  or  four  years.  Americans  would  be  very  wise  if 
they  would  keep  the  revenue  and  post-officers  in  their  places 
for  life,  if  honest.  It  is  so  in  England,  where  losses  are 
rare.  The  king's  courier  was  solicited  to  take  private  mes- 
sages with  his  king's,  which  was  the  means  of  a  post-office 
being  owned  by  a  nation.  Congressmen  send  their  clothes, 
and  even  bags  of  potatoes  to  their  homes,  which  is  a  cause 
why  the  post-office  is  deficient  in  means  to  pay  expenses. 

A  great  source  of  revenue  to  rulers  is  to  receive  bribes 
from  those  to  whom  they  grant  privileges,  such  as  bankers, 
life-insurers,  and  others.  The  time  was  when  men  went 
about  telling  fortunes,  practicing  palmistry,  or  telling  where 
gold  was  hidden.  These  have  taken  to  life-insurance,  with 
permission  of  ctthe  collected  wisdom  of  the  nation,"  caus- 
ing men,  in  this  case  as  in  the  others,  to  live  without  doing 
any  thing  of  utility.  Says  a  Massachusetts  Report,  by  John 
E.  Sanford  :  "There  are  in  this  State,  in  1867,  forty-seven 
life-insurance  companies.  The  number  of  policies  issued, 
in  fourteen  months,  was  145,000,  and  the  amount  insured 


It  persons  would  hang  up  in  their  rooms  a  copy  of  the  ten  commandments,  u 
list  or"  the  insurance  rules,  and  keep  houses  apart,  fires  would  not  often  happen. 
If  taxes  were  abolished,  the  State  would  derive  nearly  enough  revenue  to  pay  its  ex- 
penses, if  it  would  insure  the  property  of  its  citizens.  Many  patriotic  people  would 
like  to  serve  society  insuring,  at  a  small  salary  for  life.  If  those  who  insure  men's 
lives,  and  those  who  subsist  from  the  profits  of  insurance,  were  to  work  at  cultivat- 
ing the  earth,  they  could  feed  10,000,000  of  persons.  Life  insuring  persons  are 
supposed  to  prevent  poverty;  they  cause  more  poverty  than  they  prevent.  Nothing 
will  end  the  ills  of  life  but  universal,  useful  labors;  it  will  make  earth  a  paradise. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  413 

for  was  $420,000,000.  The  number  of  policies  dropped 
for  want  of  persistency  was  40,000,  which  called  for  the  sum 
of  $100,000,000.  To  satisfy  the  claims  of  those  who 
were  bereaved  $9,000,000  was  paid.  Twenty-seven  insur- 
ance companies  had  a  surplus  of  $7,595,675.  The  sum 
paid  to  the  companies  during  the  year,  was  $62,000,000, 
and  it  was  paid  by  430,000  policy  holders,  to  whose  friends 
the  companies  owe  $1,200,000,000."* 

These  facts  may  be  made  out  of  this  report,  for  every 
eighteen  dollars  paid  out,  fifteen  accumulates  in  the  treas- 
uries, and  their  accumulations  are  $100,000,000.  The  great 
States  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania  also  insure  as  much 
as  Massachusetts,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  their  gains 
are  the  same,  which  will  hire  54,000  laborers,  whose  pro- 
ductive powers,  with  machinery  on  good  farms,  will  main- 
tain 3,000,000  of  persons. 

This  nation  has  machinery  equal  to  150,000,000  of  peo- 
ple. Every  one  has  working  for  him  five  inanimate  slaves, 
fed  with  fire,  that  want  no  food  or  clothes.  Modern  sci- 
ence and  skill  has  taught  us  to  make  the  earth  yield  twice  as 
much  as  it  did  fifty  years  ago.  Why  do  fathers  resort  to 
life-insurance  companies  to  provide  for  their  children  ?  The 
money  thus  acquired  may  be  lost  in  business  or  soon  spent, 
then  there  has  to  be  a  return  to  toil  at  last,  which  finds  the 
person  unskilled,  unused  to  labor,  with  perhaps,  no  strength. 
Parents  should  very  early  inure  their  children  to  plainness 
in  dress  and  diet,  to  toil  and  discipline.  Children,  strangers 
to  costly  food  and  apparel,  will  not  wish  for  them,  and,  being 
taught  industry,  will  not  be  feeble  and  helpless.  One  who 
insures  lives  is  a  person  who  is  determined  to  get  the  products 

*  Let  no  one  accuse  me  of  wanting  human  feelings,  because  I  attack  these 
institutions.  The  ruler  of  the  Universe  has  done  his  part  well  in  giving  us  a 
beautiful  earth  to  cultivate,  and  we  suffer  refusing  to  do  it. 

36 


414  THE  LABORER; 

of  others  without  giving  any  hard  labor  for  them.  He  is 
one  who  gets  as  much  as  he  can  for  as  little  as  he  can. 

The  shoemakers  of  this  city  [Cincinnati]  have  had  their 
wages  increased  by  a  strike,  which  will  be  the  means  of  in- 
creasing the  difficulties  of  the  other  laborers,  to  purchase 
their  shoes.  If  these,  in  retaliation,  increase  their  wages, 
the  shoemakers  will  have  gained  nothing.  For  many  gen- 
erations strikes  have  been  made  without  any  benefit. 

If  the  shoemakers  were  to  carry  their  factory  into  the 
country,  instead  of  paying  §180  rent  for  four  rooms,  they 
need  only  pay  $60.  Do  these  shoemakers  pay  a  quarter  of 
a  dollar  a  pound  for  their  lard  and  hams?  These,  by  pre- 
paring and  curing  for  themselves,  need  only  cost  one-eight 
of  a  dollar  per  pound.  A  society  of  shoemakers,  purchas- 
ing potatoes  at  wholesale  prices,  and  distributing  them  to  the 
members,  will  save  a  third  of  the  price.  Two  acres  of  tile- 
drained  soil  will  give  a  family  of  six  half  their  food,  and  the 
winter's  food  of  a  cow  and  chickens.  If  the  tour  de  ordure 
be  made  the  receptacle  of  chips,  weeds,  ashes,  and  straw, 
and  these  put  on  the  acre  for  the  cow,  it  will  make  cabbages 
so  large  that  they  will  be  the  diameter  of  a  barrel.  Of  corn, 
125  bushels  can  be  obtained  on  the  acre,  sixty  of  which 
will  feed  the  cow  120  days,  and  the  remainder  will  fatten 
780  Ibs.  of  pork.  There  will  be  a  fatted  calf  to  kill.  The 
cow  will  eat  up  the  corn-stalks,  beet-tops,  cabbage  leaves, 
and  a  load  of  hay  during  the  winter,  and  will  give  a  pound 
of  butter  every  day.  The  milk  will  make  tea  not  wanted. 

A  cow  has  been  taught  to  drag  a  plow  and  rake  between 
rows.  It  helping,  the  garden  can  be  cultivated  very  easily  in 
one  hour  each  day  during  the  summer.  It  will  do  a  woman 
no  harm  to  work  an  hour  daily  in  the  garden.  Apples  are 
$2.25  a  bushel,  which  sum  can  be  saved  in  a  country  home. 
The  English  laborer  seems  in  a  fair  way  of  gaining  inde- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  415 

pendence.  There  are  700,000  members  belonging  to  the 
"Trades  Unions,"  who  have  millions  in  their  treasuries. 
In  their  "Benefit  Societies"  and  "Savings  Banks"  they  have 
$500,000,000.  Many  thousands  of  them  are  partners  with 
their  employers.  They  purchase  fat  cattle  and  divide  their 
beef.  They  own  mills,  buy  grain,  and  have  cheap  flour. 

The  N.Y.  Tribune  says:  "Within  sight  of  our  steeples 
200,000  persons  are  unemployed."  The  cause  of  which  is, 
farmers  cultivate  all  they  can,  make  their  houses  and  cloth- 
ing as  much  as  they  can  by  machinery,  which  makes  the  la- 
borer unnecessary,  and  enables  them  to  have  for  foreign 
lands  $400,000,000  worth  of  their  products  for  luxuries, 
the  greatest  bulk  of  which  is  absorbed  by  the  exchangers? 
"The  Agricultural  Bureau,"  in  1866,  said:  "The  value  of 
farm  products  was  $1,563,184,134." 

Mechanics  create  values  to  the  amount  of  1,000,000,000, 
half  of  which  is  wasted,  or  put  in  the  wrong  plaqe.  To  illus- 
trate: A  President's  inauguration  is  described  in  a  thousand 
little  papers  around  this  city.  If  the  "Commercial,"  "Ga- 
zette," "Times,"  and  "Chronicle,"  only  contained  this,  it 
could  be  circulated  all  over  Ohio  in  twenty-four  hours,  as 
they  have  steam-power  sufficient  to  print  millions  of  papers, 
having  in  them  five  times  more  news  than  a  country  paper. 
Many  will  say,  How  can  merchants  advertise?  Every  far- 
mer knows  where  his  store  is.  It  is  only  necessary  to  know 
where  things  are  made,  who  sells  them  at  wholesale,  and 
what  are  their  cost,  which  can  be  told  best  in  a  book. 

We  have  many  encyclopedias  on  various  subjects,  many 
books  of  travels  and  history,  on  natural,  mental,  and  moral 
philosophy,  and  annotations  on  the  Bible,  more  than  we  can 
read.  Plato's  Dissertation  on  Government  seems  better  for 
the  universal  happiness  of  men  than  Adams'  "  Defense.'* 
Plato's  cause  of  crime  is  as  clear  as  any  modern  jurist  can 


416  THE  LABORER; 

give  us.  He  said:  "A  youth,  having  spent  his  patrimony, 
and  knowing  no  pursuit,  resorts  to  plundering."  The  Eu- 
ropeon  travels  of  Mrs.  Stowe  and  Mr.  Greeley  will  instruct 
and  please  for  a  generation.  The  sermons  of  Wesley  are 
still  able  to  teach  men  eternal  life.  Why  should  new  au- 
thors arise  to  impoverish  themselves  and  their  compositors? 
Printers  would  like  to  own  embellished  homes  with  carpeted 
floors  and  frescoed  walls.  Three-fourths  of  the  printers 
have  no  homes,  nor  will  this  number  ever  be  able  to  acquire 
any.  It  is  only  by  going  at  those  pursuits  that  make  the 
home  and  its  inner  articles.  Were  three-quarters  of  the 
printers  to  change  work,  books  would  be  still  as  cheap  and 
abundant.  Book-makers  in  England  and  America  have 
the  stereotyped  plates  of  150,000  books.* 

A  selfish  man,  to  gain  his  neighbor's  custom,  enriches 
his  store  front  with  stone-carved  scrolls  and  leaves,  sur- 
mounts it  with  pinnacles,  and  little  gables  ending  in  finials. 
In  the  center  is  a  canopy  over  a  statue  clad  in  a  Roman  toga. 
The  windows  are  gotkic,  and  filled  with  delicate  tracery.  Is 
not  this  wasted  labor?  Would  it  not  make  the  outcasts  of  our 
earth  happy  to  have  this  for  a  home,  and  keep  them  from 
the  haunts  of  vice?  All  this  labor  is  for  a  temporary  resting 
place  for  our  shoes  or  hats,  or  something  else. 

An  agricultural  report  tells  us:  "  The  yearly  value  of 
the  tobacco  is  $52,000,000."  The  after-working  adds  as 
much  more.  It  has  been  computed  that  this  nation  uses 
100,000,000  gallons  of  whisky  in  a  year.  One-fourth  of 
this  nation  are  boys  under  twenty-one;  a  third  of  these  are 
over  fourteen,  and  number  1,250,000.  It  will  be  found  by 

*The  writing  and  type-setting  on  this  book  has  cost  me  fifteen  month's 
time,  which  would  have  made  me  a  good  furnished  home.  This  labor  is  sure, 
book  making  is  uncertain.  Conscience  impelled  me  to  do  it,  to  try  and  en- 
lighten my  fellow  toilers.  This  book  contains  nine  sheets  of  paper,  and  they 
are  worth  eighteen  cents.  The  printing  is  two  cents,  and  binding  twenty-five. 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  417 

calculation  that  the  amount  spent  on  tobacco,  and  drinking, 
will  give  each  boy  $125,  to  pay  for  teaching  him  handicrafts, 
and  how  to  cultivate  land.  Users  of  tobacco  and  drink,  you 
should  feel  shame  wasting  so  much  labor.  I  asked  a  man,- 
who  was  polishing  a  tomb-stone  worth  $40,000,  if  he  was 
not  doing  himself  an  injustice  at  such  labor,  which  deprived 
him  or  others  of  some  comforts.  He  said,  "He  was  paid 
to  do  it."  I  told  him  to  trace  the  source  of  the  pay,  and 
he  would  find  it  was  obtained  by  oppression,  such  as  buying 
land  cheap  and  selling  dear,  or  in  pursuits  without  labor. 

A  beaver  gnaws  a  tree  with  his  teeth,  which  falls  across 
a  stream.  He  makes  holes  in  the  bottom  ;  aided  by  the 
weight  of  other  beavers,the  ends  of  short  logs  are  sunk  in  the 
holes,  the  other  ends  rest  on  the  fallen  tree.  Branches  and 
mud  fill  up  the  crevices.  On  the  top  they  build  their  cells. 
The  efforts  of  these  industrious  animals  should  put  to  shame 
the  idlers  of  society,  who  have  abundant  implements. 

The  Swiss  remove  the  dirt  around  a  tree's  roots,  and  then 
chop  them  away.  Two  men  turn  a  cog  wheel,  which  ex- 
tends a  cogged  beam  and  pushes  it  over.*  This  way  a  per- 
son can  clear  an  acre  in  two  months,  which  has  been  known 
to  yield  support  to  four  persons.  A  person,  having  a  spade 
and  a  hoe,  can,  with  them,  in  a  single  month,  obtain  food  for 
a  year.  With  machinery  he  can  create  it  in  a  week,  which 
is  six  bushels  of  wheat,  six  of  potatoes  and  three  of  beans. 
Twenty-five  bushels  of  corn  will  give  a  sufficiency  of  bacon, 
and  sixty  plenty  of  milk  and  butter.  Our  home  machinery 
will  enable  him  to  make  three  suits  of  clothing  in  two  weeks. 
H.  Thoreau,  with  six  weeks'  hand  laboring,  could  live  a  year. 

*  I  have  no  faith  that  I  can  chop  down  a  tree  with  horizontal  blows.  I 
have  a  strong  belief  I  can  strike  vertical  blows  at  the  roots,  and  with  a  rope 
and  pullies  bring  it  down.  I  have  known  an  employer  order  a  workman  to 
be  turned  away  for  attending  an  Odd  Fellow's  funeral.  Why  are  we  subject 
to  others'  scorn  when  a  home  can  be  made  so  easily?  Then  we  are  independent. 


418  THE  LABORER  ; 

We  owe  persons  for  supplying  our  nation  with  war  ma- 
terials who  never  did  a  day's  work  in  their  lives.  Our  la- 
borers,who  made  these  materials,  are  supplying  the  wants  of 
those  who  did  no  work.  An  economy  of  this  nation's  la- 
bor will  cut  off  these  supplies.  France,  in  1759,  had  an  ex- 
hausted treasury;  its  minister,  M.  Silhouette,  did  not  believe 
in  borrowing  but  in  taxing.  His  plans  of  economy  were  rid- 
iculed by  wearing  short  coats  without  sleeves,  using  wooden 
snuff-boxes  to  save  gold  j£bk  ones,  making  black  faces 
in  place  of  portraits  thatlS  ii  were  formed  by  throwing 
the  shadow  of  the  face  on  ^B  ^P  paper,  with  a  candle-light, 
and  marking  thq  outlines,  fjf  This  likeness,  drawn  by  a 
pivot  rod,  became  A  SILHOUETTE.  This  manner  of 
making  a  picture  may  have  suggested  sunlight  paintings. 

The  labor  on  gold,  tea,  tobacco,  whisky,  beer,  and  for- 
eign luxuries  is  annually  $650,000,000,  which  would  pay 
our  national  debt  in  four  years.  The  users  of  these  articles 
will  not  give  them  up.  Luxury  is  nearly  as  bad  as  drunken- 
ness. If  a  person,  having  no  house  and  garden,  uses  un- 
necessaries,  when  loss  of  employment  and  sickness  comes, 
he  often  becomes  a  burden  on  the  saving  and  industrious. 
Having  a  war  debt  gives  us  a  plea  to  tax  luxuries  to  death, 
which  will  relieve  our  farmers  and  useful  mechanics  of  half 
their  burdens,  and  add  laborers  to  their  number.  The  peo- 
ple who  have  suffered  so  much  during  the  late  war  should 
be  willing  to  have  the  State  insure  property  against  fire. 
The  authorities  should  issue  paper  money  and  purchase  the 
principal  railroads  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  New 
Jersey,  and  devote  their  revenues,  with  insurance  profits,  to 
the  principal  of  the  national  debt.  The  reasons  for  this  are, 
it  will  add  to  the  laborers  men  to  produce  the  comforts  of 
life.  Who  has  the  right  to  live  and  do  no  work  ?  None  ! 
These  road  builders  used  no  real  capital,  only  cunning.  La- 


A  REMEDY  FOR  HIS  WRONGS.  419 

borers,  who  fed  and  clothed  the  workmen,  were  the  real 
capitalists.  Society  should  own  these  roads.  Their  usurping 
owners  can  feed  and  clothe  3,000,000  of  persons.  Govern- 
ments are  assemblies  of  rich  men  to  shift  the  burdens  of  a 
State  on  the  laborers,  to  save  themselves  from  them,  to  give 
privileges  and  monopolies,  so  that  they  can  live  without  do- 
ing any  work.  For  instance,  it  was  a  nation's  duty  to  tax 
every  family  to  give  Washington  a  reward;  to  give  him  for 
his  services  200,000  acres  of  land  was  to  oppress  a  few  la- 
borers. A  great  State  resorting  to  selling  lands  to  poor  peo- 
ple, to  found  an  agricultural  school,  is  contemptible.  Taxa- 
tion is  a  just  plan  to  pay  public  debts,  it  is  equal  on  all.* 

In  feudal  times  men  exacted  tolls  for  traveling  on  roads; 
this  custom  still  exists.  As  population  increases  it  will  be  a 
great  source  of  oppression.  Roman  history  tells  us  that  Ti- 
berius Gracchus  resolved  to  improve  the  condition  of  the 
common  people.  He  saw  indigent  freemen  working  for  aris- 
tocratic nobles.  To  emancipate  them  he  had  laws  passed, 
limiting  the  nobles  to  500  acres  of  land,  and  their  minor  chil- 
dren to  250.  To  slaves  he  gave  land.  We  need  some  presi- 
dent or  statesman  who  will  gain  for  our  laborers  more  of 
the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life. 

When  Catholic  missionaries  visited  England,  it  was  filled 

*Many  will  say  it  will  not  do  for  governments  to  own,  or  do  so  much,  there 
will  be  cheating.  Abolish  taxes  and  derive  revenue  from  public  works,  give 
the  managers  their  places  for  life,  a  salary,  a  percentage,  and  a  pension  in  age. 
You  will  find  more  fidelity  among  the  humble  than  the  rich.  Persons  living 
plainly  will  be  the  most  honest,  I  reason  from  my  own  feelings.  I  do  not 
wish  to  burden  my  mind  with  any  wrong  act  to  torment  my  dying  hour. 

My  book-making  task  is  ended.  It  is  painful  to  oppose  what  men  call  es- 
tablished truths.  I  have  done  it  reluctantly,  impelled  by  the  trials  and  privations 
of  some  of  my  own  class.  I  regret  I  have  not  given  them  a  better  book,  free 
from  grammatical  errors.  I  am  sincere  in  the  belief  that  the  robberies  of  the 
government,  the  acquisitions  and  luxury  of  the  rich,  cause  a  part  of  society  to 
be  vicious  and  vindictive,  filling  this  nation  with  lewdness,  crime,  and  poverty. 


42O  THE  LABORER  ; 

with  the  remains  of  Roman  barbarism,  Saxon  rudeness,  ig- 
norance of  the  rites  of  marriage,  and  Druidical  cruelty  that 
required  the  sacrifice  of  human  beings.  These  priests  made 
a  mighty  change,  by  a  division  of  labor  and  frugal  living. 
They  have  erected  beautiful,  architectural  piles  that  are  the 
admiration  of  men,  which  became  to  the  rude  people  schools 
of  learning,  refinement,  music  and  arts,  hiding-places  to  the 
down-trodden,  refuges  to  the  poor  slave,  homes  to  the  hun- 
gry wanderer,  an  asylum  to  the  friendless,  a  resting  place 
to  heavenly  pilgrims  from  the  follies  of  a  wicked  world. 
.  Within  those  religious  houses  was  the  scriptory  of  the  pa- 
tient monk,  whose  busy  pen  filled  the  library  of  his  monastery^ 
and  has  given  us  glimpses  into  the  past.  The  ornamenting 
of  the  church  with  paintings  and  sculpture  also  occupied  the 
recluses'  time.  Nuns  taught  needle-work,  embroidery,  and 
the  adorning  of  the  altar  with  linens  and  laces. 

This  period  was  to  the  English  laborers  their  best  days. 
No  commerce  to  take  away  food  for  diamonds,  no  paupers, 
or  national  debts.  The  Pope,  to  obtain  a  larger  Peter-pence, 
sent  Italian  priests, whose  exactions  made  enemies,  and  was  a 
cause  of  breaking  up  this  system.  The  arts  introduced,  the 
culture  taught,  were  not  lost.  Rich  men,  having  lands,  ap- 
propriated these  arts  to  their  pleasures.  Changes  are  yet  to 
take  place  in  society.  The  power  of  rich  men,  like  that  of 
the  monks,  must  pass  away.  The  laborer  must  become  a  la- 
boring capitalist,  and  not  a  capitalist's  laborer.  He  must  be- 
come moral,  sober,  and  intellectual,  to  obtain  this  position. 


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